


Just The Tiniest Skip

by matchaforever



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Brace for real life history allusions, Chapter 18 works as a standalone if you're looking for a, Did I mention I'm procrastinating my friggin' DISSERTATION???, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I am procrastinating, Invasion, One Shot, Politics, Romance, Tokka Week, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:01:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 42,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26205376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matchaforever/pseuds/matchaforever
Summary: I have wanted to write a Tokka fic for so long. I started this, and I can't stop (send help). "Archive Warning" status may change.Ten years after the war, Toph and Sokka attempt some diplomacy work and wind up entangled in a civil war.Chapter 18 (Nightswimming) works as a standalone if you’re looking for a one-shot.THIS FIC IS NOT LOK COMPLIANT.Thank you to @avatraang for helping me come up with a title!
Relationships: Aang/Katara (background), Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 190
Kudos: 169





	1. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own ATLA!
> 
> This story kicks off in a little village outside Yu Dao, close to Beifong Metalbending Academy.

“Stop it!” Toph couldn’t help but giggle, even as she scolded him. “Stop it, Sokka! Stop it or I’ll kick you out the door and into next week!” She giggled again. Toph loved to laugh, but only Sokka could still make her giggle.

Sokka put down the wooden straw he’d been using to blow air in her ear. “How’d you know it was me?”

“...We did say sundown at this tea house?”

“It could have been Aang or Katara!”

“Riiiiiiiight.” Toph giggled again. “I deduced that of those three choices, the one who snuck up on me with a strawful of air in my ear was you. Crown me the Queen Sleuthy One.” She put down her tea and couldn’t stop an enormous smile from spreading across her face. “Besides, I’d know your vibrations anywhere, Snoozles. No matter how long it’s been.”

She slid from her seat and let him lift her into an enormous elephant bear hug.

...

The first round of updates were predictable: Aang and Katara were taking their first night off in over a month for this meetup, trying to be in six places at once to smooth over ten different political squabbles. Sokka hadn’t been away from the South Pole for a full year, and said his modernization project was going well but was too boring to talk about at length to anyone but Katara. Toph grudgingly admitted that her students were doing well and she was proud of them.

The second round was more fruitful. Katara had the full details of an affair going on between two members of rival political teams at Whale Tail Island—which was news to Aang, even though he’d been on the same trip (“how do I always miss these things?” he asked, bewildered). Sokka had quite a tale about an old schoolteacher of his and Katara’s who, it had recently been revealed, had been quietly trying to drive his wife crazy for years by hiding various objects throughout the house and convincing her it was she who’d moved them (“I always knew there was something wrong with him,” Katara seethed). And Toph dove into a story of how she’d been set up on a date with a guy who turned out to be a bender supremacist.

“How… how…?” Sokka stuttered, as Aang choked on his tea and Katara almost fell off her chair, emitting a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan.

Toph couldn’t help but chuckle herself. “A friend set us up, and she didn’t know either!” she insisted. “She’d only just met him, he was new in town…”

“How did you find out…?”

“Well, it was like this. We met up for a drink. Everything was going fine. A little awkward, but aren’t all first dates. That’s why you drink. So the bar we’re at has a slide-a-rock court, and he challenges me to a game…”

“OH MY GOD.” Katara’s elbow slipped off the table and she barely caught herself. “Had he never heard of you?” she asked.

“Not a clue!”

“Did you at least tell him you were an earthbender?” asked Sokka.

“Yes! He was too! He said he’d go easy on me!”

All three of them were gasping with laughter now, and Katara finally did fall out of her seat. “How long did it take you to whoop his butt?” she asked from the floor.

“And did anyone get hurt?” added Aang.

Toph sipped her tea. “Only feelings got hurt. It took me five minutes to whoop his butt.”

“Five minutes, for one slide-a-rock game? OK, that’s embarrassing, but it’s not, like, deep-pit-of-shame embarrassing…” said Sokka.

Toph cleared her throat. “I beat him three times in five minutes.” The others howled. “By then, even I was a little embarrassed for him. So I said let’s take a break, and I decided to let him win the next game after that.”

“And?” Katara prompted.

“So then we take a break. We go back to our drinks and he asks me what are my top 3 books of all time. Well, that was a little awkward, because, you know. But I told him I did enjoy having The Adventures of Dunder and Bumbo read to me as a kid.”

“Ohhhhhh, I see where this is going,” Katara muttered.

“What’s The Adventures of—blah blah and blah blah?” asked Aang.

“Didn’t you have that as a kid? It didn’t make it to the Airbenders?” asked Sokka.

“No, it hadn’t been written yet when he was a kid,” said Katara. “It’s not that old. I think it came out when our parents were kids.”

“It’s the story of two best friends who get into all kinds of scrapes. They’re both Earth Kingdom, but one is a bender and the other isn’t,” Toph answered.

“And usually, it’s the bender who gets in all the trouble, and the non-bender gets him out,” Sokka continued. “Accurate.” Toph gave him a slight kick under the table and felt his heart skip the tiniest fraction.

“So I just say the name of this book,” she continued, “and out of nowhere, he starts in on me, going on and on about how that book was anti-bender propaganda, and clearly I’m some bleeding-heart self-hating bender and I’ll probably fill my children with those same bender-hating ideas and that’s why he’s going to vote for—well, I didn’t let him get that far.”

She couldn’t see them, but she swore she felt their jaws drop.

Finally, Sokka broke the silence. “Was that really all it took?” he asked. “You mentioned you liked a book as a kid…?”

“I know what you’re thinking! You all know me, so you think I must have said something else to set him off, but I swear I didn’t. I was trying to be really nice for a first date!”

Aang let out a long breath, Katara a low whistle. Sokka was quiet, and not for the first time, Toph wondered if he was hurting in a way she couldn’t know. She knew they all agreed, morally and politically, about bender supremacy, but she often worried how he felt during these conversations with three benders. She hoped she hadn’t moved the conversation out of “fun catch-up” mode and into “deadly serious” territory. She felt an urge to reach for his hand. She twisted her napkin instead.

“What did you say?” Sokka finally asked.

“Use your imagination. I wouldn’t want to repeat it here, this is a nice shop.” Sokka finally laughed again, and the somber spell broke. “I did tell him that I was, er, thoroughly glad I’d whooped his butt in slide-a-rock. Then I left.”

“Was there a second date?”

Toph kicked him again. His heart skipped again. Just the tiniest skip.

*****************

Aang was having such a good time he didn’t want to let the evening end. “I miss this!” he kept insisting, increasingly loudly, after they’d finished their food and the bill was being tabulated. “The four of us! On our own! Nobody telling us what to do, no responsibilities at all…”

“Except saving the world,” Katara supplied. “And evading the lunatic version of Zuko. Plus everyone else who wanted to kill you. You know. The good ol’ days!”

“I’d take that life again over all this politicking any day!” Aang almost yelled.

“Is Aang drunk from tea?” Sokka whispered so only Toph could hear. She snorted and some tea came up her nose. “I miss it, too!” Sokka quickly said out loud, handing Toph an extra napkin. “I’ll go camping with you anytime, buddy. We can pretend it’s the good ol’ days. I’ll send a hawk to Zuko and tell him to try to track us down, just for fun.”

“I’d go camping,” Katara said. “Seriously. We should do it.”

“Count me in,” Toph agreed. “We can even throw in a training session. I’ll bet your earthbending is rusty.”

“Tonight?” Aang asked eagerly. The other three laughed.

“So eager to get boulders thrown at you, Twinkle Toes?”

“Let’s put a little more thought and planning in before we head out camping,” said Katara. “We’ll all be in Yu Dao for three weeks, right? I want to research the best place to go around here. Somewhere with water.”

“And boulders.”

“And I’ll need at least half a day to scout the best place to buy my meat.”

Aang huffed at them all. “I’m not ready to say goodnight yet.”

“Who says you have to, Twinkle Toes? There’s a path along the pond, they’ve just added lamps to it. Let’s go for a walk.”

“Lovely,” said Katara as the bill arrived. “OK, we got a tea apiece, Sokka, you had the meat dumpling tray…”

******

“How’d you know they added lamps?” asked Sokka, after they’d paid and left the shop.

“They consulted me for the metal poles they used. I got them a deal from Earthen Fire.”

“How’s Satoru?”

“He and his new wife are great. Or so I hear.” Sokka bumped her arm with his; she bumped him back. “Speaking of which, when do you think these two—” Toph gestured behind her to Aang and Katara— “are gonna get engaged?”

Sokka dropped his voice. “Honestly, I think they might already be.”

“Oooooo, really? You think they’re keeping it a secret? Why?”

“I don’t know anything for sure. It’s just little things. They seem even more old-married-couple-ish. There are less oogies, but they keep finishing each other’s sentences, and it’s not even annoying, it’s like… that’s just how they think and talk now. Plus Katara’s been wearing a new bracelet, and I think it might actually be her engagement necklace in disguise.”

“But why would they keep it a secret?”

“Who knows… maybe we’ll find out, during this trip.”

They continued strolling and chatting. Sokka dropped back to talk to Katara about the South Pole, and Aang joined Toph.

“Out of curiosity, Toph, how were you able to get three weeks off from the academy?”

“I left Ho Tun in charge, believe it or not.”

“Ho Tun? The worrier?”

“The thing about worriers is, they tend to also be quite responsible.”

“True enough.” Aang blew a breath out his nostrils. “Speaking of responsibilities, Toph, I wanted to ask you…”

“I already have a bad feeling about this…”

“Listen first, say no second. I’m starting a diplomacy team, and I want you to be on it.”

Toph laughed out loud. “Good one, Twinkle Toes. Now tell me another.”

“Just wait, Toph. Let me tell you what I’m envisioning for this crew. First of all, Sokka gets to name it. Second of all, every mission is optional, you wouldn’t have to give up your day job unless you wanted to. Third, everyone on the team will have a different role to play. And you’d be taking on the role of Butt Whooper. I already named that one.”

Toph smiled. “I do like the sound of that, but seriously Aang, me doing diplomacy…?”

“Like I said, everyone has a role to play. Some conflicts involve really complicated situations where there are legitimate grievances on both sides. Some don’t. Sometimes things are completely one-sided and that side just needs to stop. Sometimes there are people or groups involved that don’t want to stop fighting for even a second. And sometimes there are groups or individuals that keep on fighting because they think if they can get me there, to smooth things over, they’ll get more press or prestige or business or access or… whatever they may want. They all want to be the one who the Avatar worked with to finally bring about peace. You’d be dealing with those last three groups, knocking some sense into them. Not the first.”

Toph had to hand it to him, it was an interesting idea. “So you didn’t actually approach me for my renowned diplomacy skills? I’m hurt.”

“You’d still have the official title of diplomat. Toph Beifong, Certified Diplomat and Butt Whooper. BW for short.”

Toph was silent. Aang let her think for a moment, then added, “Katara and Sokka will be on the team. I’ve also written to both Zuko and Iroh, I’m waiting to hear back.”

“Is Katara allowed? That’s not a conflict of interest?”

“Whose interest would be conflicted? She’ll have the same caveats to participate in missions as Sokka, any time something might involve the Water Tribe. Everyone will, when their own people or nation is involved.” Toph nodded. “But this was partly her idea, and she wants to work on it full-time. Just… think about it, Toph. Sometimes we’d even be working in pairs or groups. It would be a chance to see more of each other.”

“Wow, you really do miss our little family!” Toph lowered her voice. “Can I ask—have you asked Suki? Or are you going to?”

Aang responded quietly as well. “Haven’t asked her, still thinking about it. That’s a tricky one. Apart from the obvious awkwardness, I actually think Ty Lee would be better for the team, and I wouldn’t feel right about having two Kyoshi warriors. But it’ll take some skill to communicate all this in a way that gets us where we want to be…”

“So you need some diplomacy for the diplomacy crew.” Toph was quiet again. “I wouldn’t be in charge of handling any of those types of situations, would I?”

“The ones that require tact…? No, definitely not, like I said, you’d be specifically on the crew for the times when we _don’t_ want tact.” Toph was silent again. “Think on it, Toph. You can still tell me ‘no’ tomorrow, but sleep on it for tonight.”

“All right, Your Avatarness. You got it.”

Sokka overheard this and raised his voice. “Hey!” he called. “Didja ask her? Was that a yes I heard?”

“Not quite, but it wasn’t a ‘no’ either,” replied Aang. He and Toph stopped so Sokka and Katara could catch up. Toph could tell, by how they were walking, that Sokka had an arm slung around Katara’s shoulders. It gave her a slight pang. It had been so long since any of them had seen each other, other than Aang and Katara; it would be nice to have Team Boomerang together sometimes… and an excuse to travel, get out more often… 

“She’s gonna say yes,” Sokka said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. “I can see it in her face.” She punched his arm. “Oh, she’s definitely gonna say yes.”

“Bring it in, folks,” said Katara. “Team Avatar group hug before we say goodnight.”

Toph flushed, but stepped in for the hug without complaint. She’d always loved these hugs more than she let on. A tangle of limbs and warm bodies surrounded her, and she felt someone blow in her ear again. “Cut it out, Sokka,” she murmured, before leaning further into his arms.

He giggled like a schoolboy. “You’re gonna say yes.”

“Don’t pressure her, Sokka, you might tip her the wrong way…”

“And anyways, she has the right to make up her own mind…”

“I’m not saying she doesn’t, I’m saying she already has…”

“Guys.”

“Oh, you think you know everything, Mr. Know It All…”

“You’re one to talk, Miss Know It All!”

“Guys!” Toph elbowed them both. “Quiet! Someone’s been following us, and… well, here they come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The nightmare date Toph describes is literally a date I went on in 2016, if you replace "slide-a-rock court" with "foosball table" and "The Adventures of Dunder and Bumbo" with an IRL book title.
> 
> Points if you recognize the classic movie reference in this chapter.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own ATLA!

Sokka stepped in front of Toph. He always did, when there was any possibility of danger. He made it a point never to think too deeply about why. “Only one person’s approaching us, is anyone else hidden?” he whispered to Toph.

“It’s just her, unless more have been in the trees this whole time.”

The four of them drew closer together as the shadowy figure neared. Whoever it was wore a full-length coat with the hood up. On a night when none of them had needed more than a light jacket. Sokka kept one hand on his boomerang. 

“A-A-Avatar Aang?” She was hoarse, and Sokka couldn’t tell whether her voice was damaged or that was just how she spoke.

“Yes, it’s me. Who are you, and what is it you want?” Aang’s voice was a cross between kindness and wariness. Peak Avatar.

“C-c—mmmmay I talk to you in private?” She stammered, and Sokka involuntarily felt a bloom of compassion in his chest.

“I’m afraid not. At least not until I know a little more about this. Again, who are you, and what do you want?”

“I—I want to warn you about something.”

There was a brief silence.

“OK, go ahead,” said Aang.

“Here?”

“Here. I promise, whatever you want to say, you can say in front of these three.”

There was another pause. Nobody moved.

“Go ahead,” Aang prodded. “You wanted to warn me. I’m happy to be warned.”

“It’s the Lon Nol,” the woman said rapidly. “At Saipan. They—you—he—I—” she stepped forward, and Sokka caught a glimpse of an orange sunburst symbol on the sleeve of her coat. She seemed to be trying to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.

Sokka snuck a look back at Toph; her brow was furrowed in concentration, but she didn’t look especially worried. So, she didn’t sense any particular danger. Sokka loosened his grip on boomerang just a bit. “She’s terrified,” Toph whispered, “and I don’t think she’s lying. Aang, maybe you should talk with her alone. We can stay close.”

Before any of them could answer, she spoke again. “K-K-K-” She paused, grimaced, and tried again. “Is that Katara there?”

“I’ve had enough of this,” Katara said. “Yes, I’m Katara, and you’re clearly in trouble. Let’s go get you a cup of tea with Aang?”

The girl let her breath go. “I’d like that.”

Katara walked toward her, hand out. “What’s your name?”

“Dohna!”

The second voice came from the pond, which explained why Toph hadn’t sensed him coming. A young man leaped off a small rowboat that hadn’t fully landed yet. Heedless of the water splashing up to his ankles, he hurried towards them. “Dohna!” He repeated. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her face fell. She tried to speak again, but this time nothing at all came out. In no time, the man was with her, hands on her shoulders, ushering her away.

“Excuse me,” Aang inserted himself now. “This woman was trying to talk to us, and we’d like to hear what she has to say. Who are you?”

“She was—hey—you’re—are you the Avatar?”

“Yes, that’s right. And I’m going to ask you to step away from this woman. I’d like to talk to her alone.”

“Step away from—Avatar Aang, I beg your pardon. My name is Wen Yan. This is my twin sister, and I’ve been trying to find her for days. I’ve been worried sick about her, and I’m not going to leave her alone again.”

Collectively, all four of them held their breath. Sokka bent to whisper to Toph, “They look exactly alike.”

“I believe it. He’s not lying. What do we do?”

“Dohna, let’s go,” said Wen Yan. “You need a hot meal and a good night’s sleep.” He put an arm around her shoulders, and despite her fallen face, Dohna leaned into his arm. Sokka had walked just like that with Katara until a minute ago. He felt another pang of compassion; he wasn’t sure for whom.

“I’d be glad to join you for that meal,” said Aang.

“Thank you, Avatar. But we need to talk privately.” There was yet another awkward silence. “This is a family situation.”

Dohna looked up and gave a nod before letting herself be ushered away. Wen Yan kept his arm around her as they disappeared up the path.

There was a long silence.

Sokka looked at the others. “Why is nothing ever normal?” he asked.

Toph bumped him with her shoulder. “You wouldn’t know normal if it bit you.”

“Oooooo, funny girl.”

“Should we go after them?” asked Aang. “Follow them, like she followed us?”

“Somehow,” said Katara, “I think that might hurt Dohna more than it would help her.” She gave a long sigh.

Aang put his arms around her and kissed her cheek. “Let’s try to find her again in the morning. They probably won’t walk all the way into town at this hour, they’ll stay here in the village, like us, and there are only so many places to stay... Maybe we can get her alone for a minute. Or maybe he’ll let us talk all together, once he’s calmed down.”

They walked back towards their hotel, the mood decidedly heavier than it had been ten minutes ago. After one more round of hugs, Katara and Aang said goodnight. Sokka pulled Toph into a goodnight hug, but whispered in her ear, “just pretend to go to bed, meet me back here in the corridor in one minute.”

He whistled his way into his room, then quietly popped back out. A few seconds later, Toph appeared too. “Well?” she whispered, but she was already smiling, and she’d let her hair down, so she knew something was in store.

He pressed a small flask into her hand. “Cactus juice. I’ve been saving it. You want to have it tonight, or another time?”

With her free hand, she grabbed his wrist. “Let’s go.”


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left kind words, and who helped me come up with a real title! I really appreciate it.
> 
> Hope the start of the school year is going well for all those impacted by it... especially those dealing with COVID extra-ness. Roll with the punches, y'all. Take a break (and read some Tokka).
> 
> I don't own ATLA.

“Half of this is for me? Or do you have a second flask for you?” Toph asked as she settled into the wooden booth.

Sokka swung himself in across from her. “I’ve just got the one flask. Don’t worry, there’s plenty there for the both of us. Just sip it slowly.”

“Don’t tell me how to drink cactus juice, Snoozles. Can we get something to drink, too?”

Sokka signaled the waiter, who stepped over. “Tell me,” said Sokka, “What’s the strongest drink you’ve got here?” Toph snickered silently.

“Mulled wine.”

“Please bring us two mugs of it.”

“You got it, sir.”

Toph waited until the waiter was gone before she spoke. “There’s nothing stronger than slightly alcoholic tea in this whole village. Believe me, I’ve looked.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I came prepared!”

Toph took a sip of the cactus juice and passed the flask to Sokka. He took a healthy swig. “Hey, take it slow, Snoozles, you just got through telling me…”

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

“That’ll be the day.” Toph already felt a little flicker of warmth spreading through her system. She knew she was grinning.

Sokka laughed heartily, even though it wasn’t that funny. “How has it been a whole year, Toph? How?” He leaned closer to her and his voice got louder. _“How did we let this happen??”_

“You got me.” Toph propped her feet up on the bench next to him. “Last month a roving, cheating con artist came through with this stupid marble game thing, and I had to scam him out of all his ill-gotten money with no help at all.”

“Noooooooooooo!!!!” Sokka howled. “You had to cheat a cheater without a fellow cheater to help you cheat?”

“All by my lonesome. It hurt, Snoozles.” She thumped her chest with her palm. “It hurt me _right here._ ”

Sokka leaned in further. “I swear to you, my bestest friend of all time, _never again_ will I be absent for another scam so long as we both shall live. I do.”

Toph kicked him. He bent down and blew a raspberry on her calf. She kicked him again. They tussled a bit. “One of these days, I am actually going to tickle you,” Sokka warned as he caught her ankle.

“Enjoy that last breath you draw as you do.” They both sank back, laughing and panting.

At that moment, the mulled wine arrived, and they drank eagerly. “This is _delicious!_ ” Sokka told the waiter.

“It is good,” Toph agreed.

“I’m glad to hear it,” said the waiter, not disguising the amusement in his voice. “Apparently, it’s stronger than usual tonight, too.”

“No, I mean it, this is the b—the second best thing I’ve ever had to drink!” Sokka was up, out of his seat, and seemed to be grabbing the waiter’s shoulders now. “I must see the chef! I must shake his hand!”

The waiter was positively tickled. Before Toph could intervene, Sokka dragged him into the kitchen. Laughing, she dashed after him, half hoping she could get him back to the table before he caused any trouble, half hoping this was merely the beginning of yet another Epic Night of Cactus Juice. The stories she’d one day tell her children…

In the kitchen, the chef seemed torn himself, between wanting to throw Sokka out on his rear and wanting to keep him around for entertainment. “Yes, yes, thank you, sir,” he said, his tone a mix of irritation and amusement. “Ah! Is this lady with you, sir?”

“Toph!” Sokka squealed in delight. “When did you get here?” He rushed to her and pulled her into a hug that lifted her off her feet.

“Thank you for not killing us,” Toph said to the chef, her chin on Sokka’s shoulder.

The waiter didn’t seem torn at all about Sokka’s behavior—he seemed delighted. “It’s nice to see such a happy young couple,” he said. Neither Toph nor Sokka bothered to correct him; this had happened to them before, and they found it made the night go smoother if they didn’t fight it. “Shall I put some music on the gramophone? We aren’t very crowded tonight, and perhaps you’d enjoy a dance.”

“YESSSSSSS!” Sokka howled. “YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!! I’ve been trying to teach this girl to dance for yeeeeeeeeears!!” Toph groaned. Sokka banged out of the kitchen, still carrying her. “You’ll be a great dancer, Toph! You just need a stone dance floor and plenty of space.”

“Give me that flask,” Toph demanded. Sokka set her down and handed it to her. She took a full swallow. “I need to catch up to you, or this will be no fun for me at all.”

Sokka doubled over laughing. Then the music came on. Toph had never heard anything so beautiful. It was somebody playing a string instrument and singing. She felt it tingle in her fingertips. “Oh my god…” she whispered, feeling tears prick her eyes.

“What?”

“I swear I can… I can _see_ the music. It’s so…” She gave a sob. “It’s so beautiful!”

“That’s the stuff,” Sokka said. He lifted her up and set her down on top of his feet, then swung her around and around in a joyful, if manic, dance.

She laughed and cried and clung tightly to his neck. “Sokka, I’ve missed you so, soooooo much…” she sobbed.

He stopped dancing riotously, and just swayed on the spot. She rested her head in the crook of his neck. “Can I tell you something?” She felt his vocal chords thrumming.

“Always.”

“I like it when you call me Sokka.”

Toph pulled back her head. Everything was spinny. She was glad they’d stopped near an open window—the breeze felt good. “Well, it’s your name. I do actually know your name. Everyone calls you it. Except me, most of the time.”

“I know, but… it sounds special when you say it.”

Everything around her slowed down, and one of her ears started ringing. She wondered if it was the cactus juice, or…

He spoke again. “When you say it, it has, I don’t know, a special ring, or—no, I know. It sounds delicious when you say it. Delicious in your mouth.”

Toph felt like she’d been hit by a sheet of metal. Still the cactus juice? Sokka was telling her his name sounded delicious in her mouth? Was any of this real?

“Sokka, I…” she trailed off when she felt his pulse leap. She could feel his eyes on her. She swallowed. “Your heart’s racing,” she said softly.

Sokka pulled one of her hands down from his neck and, before Toph realized what he was doing, pressed his fingers to her wrist at her pulse. Toph forgot how to breathe.

“Yours too,” Sokka whispered. He was right; she could feel it racing in her chest, pounding in her temple as well.

Toph bit her lower lip. Sokka inhaled sharply. She wondered if he would kiss her. That had never happened before. Even on their Craziest and Most Epic Night of Cactus Juice, just over a year ago, when they’d spent part of the night crammed together in a garbage bin. He had never kissed her. This would either be the best or the worst night ever.

His hand came up and sifted through her hair, then traced the outline of her ear, pausing to play with her earlobe. She shivered and clutched at his collar, unable to speak. She felt him lean forward slightly. Here it comes, she thought. This is happening. She’d dreamed of this moment since she was 12. Let it be good, she prayed. Please, God of my ancestors, God of Cactus Juice, please let it be good.

Then a voice came through the window. It was loud, angry, and enough to shock both Toph and Sokka out of the—whatever it was.

“It’s not that you don’t b-b-b-believe me, I know you believe me, no matter what you say. You just don’t _care_.”

The voice that followed was too low to identify, but the first was unmistakable. Sokka set Toph down on the floor, and they both leaned towards the window to listen.

“No.” This was Dohna’s voice again. “No no no no, never never never never.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to find them, and tell them, and you can’t sssssssstop me!”

There was a pause, and then a thud, and then a crash—the sound of breaking glass. Then shouting. Toph and Sokka both started, then leapt into action. He grabbed her hand and they sprinted out the door.

“It came from the back—over here!” Sokka pulled her hand. “We’re coming, Dohna!” he screamed.

Then he screeched to a halt. Toph slammed into him, and he thrust an arm out to keep her from going any farther. “Oh my God, Toph!” His voice cracked.

“What?? Sokka, WHAT???”

He gripped her hand harder. “It’s all on fire!”


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to everyone who's left reviews! I love reading them.
> 
> I don't own ATLA.

Sokka tore at his hair, then realized he’d dropped Toph’s hand to do so. Frantic, he grabbed for her again and caught a handful of her hair. “Ouch!” she screeched.

“Sorry! Sorry!” He gripped her arm. “You need to get safe. I’ll find a well. No, I’ll tell the restaurant owner. No, you can do that. You tell the owner while I look for a well.”

“Sokka…”

“No, that’s no good, you might burn your feet. I’ll get you safe, then I’ll find the owner, then—”

“Sokka! Listen!”

“THEN I’ll find a well…”

Toph grabbed his face. “Sokka! Listen to me! I don’t feel any heat! I don’t hear any flames! I think this is the cactus juice messing with your head!”

He heard her, but the words didn’t compute. “Ahhhh!” he slapped at her shoulder. “Toph, who lit you on fire??”

“Sokka, stop it! I’m not on fire!” He slapped at her shoulder again, then realized her whole back was aflame.

“Get it out!” He bellowed, and tackled her. They fell to the ground, and Sokka rolled her around, trying to smother the flames on her back.

“Enough!” Toph roared, and the next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, stone shackles pinning his wrists and ankles, Toph sitting on his stomach.

“Sokka.” His name in her mouth. “Sokka, it’s the cactus juice! There’s no fire!” On some level, he realized what must be going on; on another level, he struggled against her. “And even if there were,” Toph continued, “shouldn’t we just get Aang and Katara?”

All the fight went out of him. “Riiiiiiiight,” he said, slumping down. “Water bending.”

“Sokka, can you hear me now? Do you understand there’s no fire?”

He looked around; the fire was gone.

“Yes,” he said, nodding. “I’m sorry. You can let me up now. I’m starting to get clearer.”

“Good, because I’m still fuzzy,” Toph answered. She released him and they stood, shakily. “I keep hearing glass breaking, over and over again, but I haven’t felt anything that feels like that would. Can you see if there’s any broken glass?”

Sokka looked around. “I don’t quite trust my eyes yet, but I don’t see anything. I haven’t heard any glass breaking, either.”

“How do we know if any of this was real? Wait, did you hear that Dohna girl?”

“Yes.” Sokka nodded vigorously. “Yes, that was real.”

“I heard her say something like ‘You believe me, you just don’t care.’”

“Yes. She was yelling. Then she said ‘no’ a bunch of times, and that she was going to find us and tell us. At least, I assume she was talking about us. Is that what you heard?”

“Yes, so we know that much was real.” Toph gave her head a shake, still trying to clear it. “What should we do? Try to go after her?”

Sokka gave a rueful laugh. “They’re going to be long gone by now, unfortunately. Unless you think you might be able to track her down…?”

“I can’t feel anything right now. We could walk around for a bit, see if I can find her? And also try to get our heads clear?”

“Yeah, OK.” It wasn’t the most satisfying plan, but Sokka couldn’t think of anything else to do. “Wait out front for me, I’ll pay our tab… what a night.”

He filled their canteens with water while inside, and Toph drank eagerly when he reemerged. Suddenly, he remembered. “Oh my God, Toph, is your back OK?” He spun her around to look.

“Sokka.” There it was again, her mouth, his name. “It was never on fire?”

“Oh. Right.” He looked at her for a second, then they both laughed. “I wonder how much of any of this we’ll remember tomorrow…”

Her face fell the tiniest bit then, and Sokka fuzzily remembered what had happened before all hell broke loose. He’d almost kissed her. Toph. And him. Almost kissed. He needed to think. He hadn’t planned it. He’d wanted it for so long. Did she want it too? Did she even know? How could he ask her? What  _ was _ it about this night?

“Um, Toph,” he began, not even sure what would come next.

“Hang on, Snoozles.” She interrupted, holding up her hand. “Should we get Aang and Katara?”

“Oh, God.” He hadn’t expected that. “And let them see us like this?”

“They’re going to find out anyways. You know we have to tell them. It’s either now, when they can help us search, or tomorrow morning, when the scolding will be twice as bad because they’ll say we should have gotten them. And they’ll be right.”

“Ugh.” Sokka groaned. “Are you sure it’s worth it? We still don’t know who these people even are, or what they’re all about…”

“We know this girl has something she’s dying to tell Aang. And we know her brother is trying awfully hard to stop her from doing that. I think that’s enough.”

“You’re right, I know you’re right. OK.” They turned in the direction of their hotel. “I’ll buy you dessert for a week if you wake them up.”

“If you wake them up, tomorrow I’ll take you right to the best butcher in town, and make sure you get the best cut of everything for half price. I teach his kid.”

“I’ll buy you dessert for a week  _ and _ share my meat with you if you wake them up.”

“I’ll get you the best meat,  _ and _ clean, polish, and sharpen Boomerang for you if you wake them up.”

The haggling continued right up until they arrived at Aang and Katara’s door, at which point Toph gave a sigh, Sokka gave her a glance she could not see, and, as they’d both always known they would, they raised their hands at the same time and knocked, together.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tokka week!

She’d panicked. Called him Snoozles rather than Sokka, and brought in Aang and Katara, to make having the conversation impossible. And now she might never know what he was going to say. Where it all might have gone. She kicked a rock and tried not to hate herself.

“You OK?” asked Katara. The anger was finally starting to ebb from her voice. Neither she nor Aang had been angry about being woken up; they’d assured them, in fact, that it was the right thing to do. But it had taken Katara all of the next thirty seconds to figure out that they were both high on cactus juice, and then they’d gotten an earful. And when they split up to search for Dohna and Wen Yan, Katara had angrily insisted that Sokka and Toph be separated, and each have a partner who was completely sober. Which did make sense, Toph had to admit.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Toph answered. Then, because she knew Katara knew she was lying, “I’m sorry, Katara. I don’t want to talk about it.” She stomped the ground to feel for anyone nearby.

“OK. Anything?”

“No.”

What had he been planning to say? If she asked him about it later, what would he say? Was it just the cactus juice speaking? Or was there something else… something more? Did she  _ want _ there to be something more, after all these years?

_ Duh. _

She stomped the ground again. “Still nothing.”

Of course she wanted there to be something more. But that didn’t mean she knew how to go about it. Or was ready to get her heart broken. After all, she was the only one considering a childhood dream come true here. Only she had been carrying this torch for a decade. He wasn’t teetering on the verge of heartbreak, nor did he know just how real hers would be, if things went wrong. The stakes weren’t equal for them.

“I’m here, just in case it needs to be said,” Katara interrupted her thoughts. “I won’t keep bothering you about it. Just need you to know I’m here.” Toph felt herself smile gratefully. Katara picked up Toph’s hand, formed it into a fist, and used it to punch her own arm.

Toph laughed out loud and gave her a quick one-armed hug, feeling better. “I’ve missed you, Sweetness.” Katara ruffled her hair.

_ Stomp _ . Nothing. Enough of this self-indulgence. Time to change the subject. “Do you have any wild guesses of what this has all been about? Dohna and Wen Yan, I mean,” Toph added hastily.

“I’ve been going over it in my head again and again. That poor girl,” Katara said. “She said something about the Lon Nol, at Saipan. I wrote that down as soon as we got back to the room. I’ve never heard of Lon Nol. I know Saipan is an island in the East, and I think I remember reading about some political struggles going on there, but I’m always reading about political strife and it all starts to run together… Oh, something you should know, she was wearing a long coat that had an orange sunburst symbol on the left sleeve. Her brother wasn’t wearing a coat, but he had that same sunburst on an armband. Have you ever heard of anything with that symbol…?”

“No. I don’t even know what a sunburst looks like.”

“Oh, right. It’s a bunch of lines, going off at a diagonal, all originating from a spot in the middle. Sunbeams.” Katara was silent for a minute, then muttered, “We should have just said yes, she could talk to Aang privately, right away. I don’t like how we’ve started defaulting to not trusting people.”

“Oh, Sweetness.”  _ Stomp _ . Nothing. “You know as well as anyone why he had to make that switch.”

“I know.” Silence.  _ Stomp. _ Nothing.

“Are you going to say yes to the diplomacy thing?”

“Yes, but don’t tell the boys yet. I want to make them work for it a bit more.”

Katara laughed. “Sokka’s got a speech all ready for you. He practiced it on us twice.” Katara put on a “Sokka” voice and shook Toph’s arm. “Picture this, Toph. The boss of an oil company has been in cahoots with his governor, trying to annex a nearby province for their oil, for months. They’ve trumped up a conflict and the arms dealers are in on it too. They’re raking in the cash, and nobody wants it to stop… except for the villagers whose homes are being bombed and crops destroyed, and the refugees fleeing the region their ancestors founded, and the children whose teachers are being conscripted… now they hear that Avatar Aang has gotten wind of the situation and is sending...” (she cleared her throat) “the Butt Whooper In Chief! The Blind Bandit herself!”

Toph couldn’t help but laugh. Katara’s Sokka impression had always been pretty spot-on.

“The mere mention of your name—sorry, your  _ title _ —sends a chill down all their spines! They’ve heard the tales of the Avatar’s Butt Whooper. They know what’s in store for them if they piss her off. And so, before you even get there, they lay down their arms and start talking cease-fires. The Talkalot Squad sends an actual negotiator to help with that process. Your job is done, another little corner of the universe has found peace, and you didn’t even have to leave home.” Katara dropped the Sokka voice. “He has another 3 scenarios sketched out in case that one doesn’t do the trick.”

“The Talkalot Squad?”

“Just one of his many ideas for this crew.”

“Hmmm. I think we can do better.”  _ Stomp _ . Nothing. “Any idea what time it is?”

“The moon has set… I think we’ve passed from very, very late into very, very early.”  _ Stomp _ . Hang on, that was… she stomped again. Katara stopped. “You found something?”

“Just the boys, I think.” She pointed down a side street where two figures were walking; soon, she felt a stomp from them. That could only be Aang. “Yes, it’s them.”

Toph felt her heart rate pick up as they walked towards each other. Sokka’s did too. Ugh. She wondered if he’d discussed everything with Aang. This awkwardness was too painful.

“So that’s a full circuit, then,” said Aang, through a yawn. Toph bit back her own yawn. “I think we better get to bed. There’s nothing else we can do tonight.”

It felt horribly inadequate, but the others agreed. They turned back towards their hotel. Sokka dropped back to walk with Toph, and her heartbeat sped up still more, despite her fatigue.

He spoke quietly and quickly. “Toph, I just want to say I’m sorry if I was out of line earlier. If what I said or did was unwelcome. I’m sorry.”

“Please, don’t,” Toph said, knowing the distress was evident in her voice. She could feel his eyes on her, hard. She didn’t want him to apologize. His actions hadn’t been unwelcome at all, and she didn’t want to hear how much he regretted them, how they’d been the product of the cactus juice, how he’d take it all back if he could. She wanted to live the daydream a little longer. Just a little longer. They walked in silence a few more steps.

“I don’t know what to say,” Sokka said softly.

“I don’t either,” said Toph. “We just… we need some sleep. Will you be able to sleep?” He sometimes had trouble sleeping, when he was worrying about something.

“I think so. Aang stopped me from collapsing a few times tonight. Are you OK?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

They were back at the hotel now. His hand on her arm stopped her before the threshold. “Really. I mean it. Is there anything you need to say to me? Or want?”

“What do you mean?” Aang had gone ahead, but Katara stopped, and Toph got the feeling she was watching them.

“I’m just… worried that I… maybe upset you. Would you tell me if I did?”

“Snoozles. What kind of question is that to ask me? When have I ever NOT told you I’m upset?” This wasn’t entirely fair, Toph knew. This time was… different. But she kept that wall up. She needed to, tonight.

Uncharacteristically, Sokka said nothing. Silently, he went into the building. Toph stood there a moment, her head in her hands, then chased after him, tracking him down outside his room. Katara had vanished.

“Sokka, wait,” she panted, and caught his arm. His heart jumped. Again, she felt his eyes on her. Her own heart skittered, and she swallowed. “I’m… I’m sorry I’m so bad at this.” She felt his heartbeat steady. “Look. Tomorrow, let’s you and me have coffee together first thing? Just here, in the hotel?” 

He squeezed her hand. “Yes, that sounds good.”

“Will you come wake me up if you can’t sleep?”

“OK.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She nodded. “Good. C’mere, you.” They put their arms around each other and squeezed. And after they’d stopped squeezing, they stood there, holding each other, for several minutes. “Best friends,” Toph murmured.

Sokka finally drew back. “Best friends always.” He took his room key from his pocket.

_ Ask me if I want to come in. _ The thought came unbidden to Toph’s mind.  _ Ask me to come in.  _

“Goodnight, Toph,” Sokka said, as he closed the door behind him.


	6. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so bad at dissertating.
> 
> I don't own any of this.

He did sleep, thank God.

He was angry. At himself, and the universe. And he knew he had a lot to think about, and would probably need Katara’s help sorting through everything. But he also knew that he’d handle that conversation better if he got some sleep. So he didn’t let his mind wander. Instead, he started a breathing exercise Aang had taught him, and fell asleep in the middle of it.

He was awakened what felt like a few minutes later by a chittering sound and light footfalls skittering around his chest. Groaning, he sat up. “Momo? What have we discussed about my boundaries?” He drew the little creature into a sleepy hug. “How did you even get in here?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Sokka, can you hear me?” Katara’s voice came from the window. Of course; she and Aang were right next door.

“Yeah,” he called. “Yeah, I’m up.” He carried Momo to the window and stuck his head out; she was already doing the same. “Did you send this chatty monkey my way?”

“Guilty,” she said. “I couldn’t let you sleep too late. I’ll send him to Toph next.” She was watching carefully to see what his face did when she said Toph’s name. He tried not to react. “Sokka, did anything…  _ else _ happen last night? Anything you want to tell me?”

He said nothing. Momo wrapped his tail around his neck.

“Sorry,” Katara said. “That came out more accusatory than I meant it to. I’m trying to say, if you want to talk, I’m here.”

He let his face loosen a bit. “Thank you,” he said. “I might take you up on that, later. I’m actually supposed to get coffee with her first thing today, so… I better get ready. See you later.” He passed Momo back to Katara and left the window.

What on earth was he going to say…? “About last night, I’m not sorry at all, in fact I wish we hadn’t been interrupted so I could’ve kissed you, unless you weren’t into it, in which case I’m very sorry.” Would that work?

*****

“Did you sleep?” Toph asked, before she even sat down.

“Yes, friend, I slept,” Sokka answered.

She nodded curtly. “Good.”

“I got your coffee.” He pushed it towards her on the table. “You haven’t changed how you drink it, have you?”

“Nope.” She sat down, took a sip, and her whole being instantly became happier. “Ahhhhhh.”

He smiled. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Better, now.”

“Any hangover?”

“A little, but it could be worse.” She drank again. “Definitely not like that time with…”

“...the garbage bin?” They both laughed. “I didn’t get that crick out of my neck until the next time I saw Katara.”

“Did you tell her what it was from?”

“No way. I said it was stress.”

There was a short silence. Sokka fiddled with the handle of his coffee mug. Toph sipped silently, saying nothing.

“Um,” he said. He still had nothing planned, no idea what to say. “I really hate feeling awkward with you.”

“I do too,” Toph muttered.

“Look, I know you asked me to stop talking last night,” Sokka said haltingly, “and I don’t want to say anything that’ll upset you again. I just need to say again, I’m sorry I upset you.” As he spoke, he realized he still didn’t know what, specifically, had upset her. The only thing he knew was that she’d shut down his efforts to talk about it, and he wasn’t willing to upset her again by trying to broach the subject.

“Snoozles,” Toph said. Her face evidenced a battle to keep her emotions at bay. “I know I slammed the brakes on you. I was just… scared.” Toph, admitting she was scared? Of what?

“Of what?”

“I…” she blew a piece of hair out of her face. “I don’t have a real family that feels like family. I don’t even have a lot of close friends, apart from you three, and those two, well, they’re always going to be first with each other. Which leaves you and me. You’re already…” she swallowed. “You’re already shouldering the role of best friend and surrogate family for me, and I can’t stomach the thought of…” was that a tear on her cheek? “The thought of…”

“OK, it’s OK, I get it,” Sokka said. He grabbed her hand across the table. She took a deep breath and pushed the tear away. The door opened, bringing in two older men with long beards and a gust of wind that messed up Toph’s hair again. Sokka continued to grip her hand while she got her breathing under control. Silently, he wondered, was she afraid to lose him because there was always a possibility that romance could end badly? Or did she fear telling him she didn’t have romantic feelings for him at all? He pushed that question aside, knowing he might never know. She was telling him no, either way. Crying over her coffee while telling him no. She hated crying in public, and he added “made her cry over coffee” to the list of reasons he was angry at himself.

“I know you hate this,” he said quietly. “I’ll just say one more thing, and then we can put this to bed. And that’s that I can’t think of anything worse than losing you, either.” She gave him a crooked smile and blew her nose into her napkin. “Want me to get Katara?” he asked. “She’s really good at these crying conversations…”

“Ha, no!” Toph barked. “She’ll want to take this opportunity to really lean into my feelings and talk about Satoru, and my childhood, and…”

“Tearbend!” Sokka laughed, relieved they were moving into “laughing” ground again. They both took a deep breath, the air between them becoming more comfortable. Sokka looked up at the counter. “You ready for some food, or still too queasy? I can read you the menu...”

“Sokka.” And just like that, his easy mood was gone. What was it about hearing her say his name? He felt his heart stutter yet again, and hoped she hadn’t felt it too. They were sitting on wooden benches, so he was probably OK… wait, what was she actually saying?

“What, sorry?”

“There are two people coming towards us—tell me what you see.”

He finally looked around. “I saw them come in. Two older men, long white beards. I don’t recognize either of them. I wonder what they want, or if maybe…”

“Do you think…?”

The question of whether they had something to do with Dohna hung in the air unspoken, because the men were upon them. “Are you Toph Beifong?” one of them asked. Up close, Sokka thought, he looked vaguely familiar; he had bushy eyebrows and wore a purple hat.

Toph hesitated, then replied, “That depends, what’s the next question?”

“Miss Beifong, may we speak to you in private?”

Sokka knew his own expression mirrored hers. First Aang, now Toph?

“ _ Sifu Toph _ ,” Toph answered sternly, “and no, anything you want to say, you can say in front of him.” She gestured towards Sokka.

The two men glanced at each other, then at him. The other one, who hadn’t spoken yet—a bald man with piercing eyes—tapped the first’s arm. “I recognize him,” he said quietly. “Piandao’s student. His name is Kasakka. No, Katakka. He’s OK.”

“I can hear you,” Sokka said, irritated. Kasakka? Katakka? A combination of his name and Katara’s? And he’d been closer the first time. What an insult. Toph was smirking, and Sokka couldn’t help but give a short laugh.

The two men ignored Sokka and turned their focus back to Toph. “Sifu Toph, forgive us. We have looked very hard for you.” The man with the purple hat paused, then leaned in close and spoke very quietly. “The Order of the White Lotus needs you. Please come with us so we can tell you more. We’ll wait for you outside.” And they walked away before Toph or Sokka could say another word.

Sokka’s mouth fell open. Toph’s, too. They sat in shocked silence for a moment.

Then Toph lifted her mug and drained the rest of her coffee. “This was supposed to be my  _ vacation _ ,” she growled, then slammed the mug down, stood, and walked after the men. “Come on, Katakka,” she said, over her shoulder. “I want a witness for whatever happens next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there coffee in the ATLA universe? I don't remember ever seeing anything but tea, but it felt cruel to deprive them of coffee.


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, another chapter of the thing that is not my dissertation. I need help. I don't own anything.

“Stupid Order… stupid flower… stupid vacation…” Toph muttered to herself nonsensically as she traipsed after the two men. She had just cried in front of Sokka, and she felt raw and vulnerable, not in the right frame of mind to talk to members of an Ancient Secret Order. 

They caught up outside. “OK, I’m here, what do you need me to do? Is it quick? Something just needs to be metalbent?”

“No, no,” came a hasty reply from the first man—not the one who’d conflated Sokka and Katara. “Sifu Toph, we…” he lowered his voice. “We are here to recruit you.”

“Recruit me?” A mission, then, not just something to be metalbent… but still, why would they try to recruit her for a mission when Aang was right next door? “Wait a minute, are you sure you want  _ me?  _ Not Aang?”

Silence.

“She can’t see that you nodded,” came Sokka’s voice. “Sorry, Toph, if you did feel that. It was a very slight nod. Almost like they're not sure.”

“If she showed some respect and looked up, perhaps she  _ would _ see us.” This was the second man.

“Hush, Ju Long!” the first hissed. “You mustn’t speak to her like that!”

“Like what? Oh—yes,” Ju Long said. “I do apologize.”

“Seriously?” said Toph. “They sent you to recruit me for some mission without telling you I’m blind?”

Silence.

“You’re  _ blind _ ?” Ju Long said incredulously. “Zheng, we must have the wrong girl.”

“No!” Zheng insisted. “Her name is Toph Beifong. She just offered to metalbend for us. And she’s with Piandao’s student here, Mr… um…. Ka—Ka—um—”

“Katakka,” Sokka supplied.

“Yes, Katakka. This is Toph Beifong, I’m sure of it.” He turned back to Toph. “Forgive us, Sifu Toph. Nobody did tell us you were blind. How were you able to overcome this defect and fight alongside the Avatar to end the war?”

Toph crossed her arms. “Whaddaya mean,  _ defect _ ?”

Sokka’s heart sped up too. “The only defective thing going on here is that you guys didn’t do your homework.”

“She can’t join us,” Ju Long spat. “Not a blind girl.”

“You’d be so lucky,” Sokka barked.

“Hold up here,” Toph said. “I still haven’t heard what I’m being recruited  _ for _ . What’s the mission?”

Another beat, and then—“There is no mission,” said Zheng. “Not at the moment, at least. We are here to recruit you to join the Order of the White Lotus.”

The angry retort died on Toph’s lips. They wanted  _ her? _ For the  _ Order of the White Lotus??? _

“Whaaaaa?” she said stupidly.

“We want you to join the Order of the White Lotus.”

Toph still couldn’t speak. She heard Sokka laughing. “Shut up, Katakka,” she snapped at him, but reached for him at the same time. He let her catch his arm, and she clutched him like she did when they were flying. “You want me?  _ Me? _ To join the Order of the White Lotus? Like as a member of the Order???”

Silence. Then— “Toph, did you feel that nod?” asked Sokka. "You really should get in the habit of answering verbally," he said.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Toph said, disbelievingly. “The Order of the White Lotus—a bunch of old men, and me? What’s going on, here?”

“It’s very simple.” Zheng was doing all of the talking, and Toph wondered if Ju Long wished they’d reversed course. “The Order is in awe of your abilities. We have heard countless stories of your courage and skill, and especially of your service in the war. And your invention of metal bending makes you truly extraordinary. We want you for the Order. You have earned it, and you deserve it.”

Toph considered this. It was nice to be flattered, but it was still so… odd. “What proof do you have that you’re from the Order?” she asked. She heard a slight rustling.

“Toph, he’s holding up a white lotus tile,” said Sokka. “But I’d like to write to a few people to be sure. Why didn’t the Order send someone we know?” he asked. “Iroh, or Piandao...?”

“...or Bumi or Pakku or Jeong Jeong…?”

“I have a letter for you from Iroh,” said Zheng. There was a rustling of papers. “You can write to him as well, to verify its authenticity. Ju Long and I are here because we live nearby.”

“...Then why didn’t you just come find me at my metalbending academy…?”

“We might have been recognized. The Order of the White Lotus operates in strict secrecy.”

Toph tugged Sokka’s arm. “It is broad daylight in the middle of a public street, yes?”

“Yup.”

Zheng ignored this. “Here is the letter from Iroh, along with some other materials you’ll need to review.” Toph automatically held out her hand; he passed her a sheaf of papers. A lot of papers. Basically a book.

“Please keep this information completely confidential. Read these completely alone. Even your friend here can’t be privy to these materials. Write down any questions you have for us. We’ll find you again soon to answer your questions and move to the next step. Don’t seek us out, we’ll find you.” And with that, they left, walking away surprisingly quickly and with no goodbye.

Toph was supremely irritated now. “I can’t read? Or write? And I haven’t said yes?” she said in the direction of their backs, with no intention of being heard.

“That,” said Sokka, “was bad. Seriously. They couldn’t have been badder at that. Maybe they were  _ trying _ to do their baddest.” There was a beat of silence. Then, he said quieter—“But, it is the White Lotus. I mean.”

These were Toph’s thoughts exactly. “I can’t deal with this right now. When were we supposed to meet Aang and Katara?”

“In a few minutes. Oh, they’ll be excited to hear about this…”

“OK, let’s go.” She shuffled the papers Zheng had given her. “I’m going to need all three of you to help me make this decision. Ready to do some reading aloud?” 

“I’ll start practicing my Very Important Voice.” He took the sheaf of papers from her and put on an affected city accent, shuffling through them as they walked. “ _ Official History of the Order of the White Lotus _ …  _ Unofficial History of the Order of the White Lotus _ …  _ Rules and Regulations of the Order of the White Lotus _ …  _ Unspoken Rules and Regulations of the Order of the White Lotus _ …”

Despite how painful and insulting Ju Long and Zheng’s pitch had been, Toph thought to herself, she was glad it had happened. It was nice to get her mind off her feelings—she could only go so long feeling  _ anything _ so intensely. Plus, she and Sokka were out of the “this is super awkward” zone and back in the “best friends” zone.

That very thought gave her a stab of pain.

“... and  _ Commitments and Expectations for New Members of the Order of the White Lotus _ . That’s it. Well, we’ve got a lot to review. What did you think of my Important Voice?” He tilted his head towards her.

“Flameo, Katakka,” said Toph, grateful that they'd at least found a new name that carried neither the longing ache of "Sokka" nor the new sting of "Snoozles." “Flameo.”


	8. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own none of this...

“Katara found a camping spot,” Aang said the second Toph and Sokka arrived at breakfast. Katara kicked him. “I mean, sorry, good morning. Katara found a camping spot. Sokka, come look at the map.”

“Can I sit down first, buddy?” Sokka patted Aang on the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry… here, I marked it on the map.” Sokka chuckled.

“You are _not_ going to believe what just happened,” Toph said, sliding in next to Katara.

“What?” asked Katara. Her gaze immediately swung to Sokka, her eyes anxious. “Is everything OK?” Sokka gave her a quick nod. He still felt a little emotionally… sore, and he’d tell her everything later, but Ju Long and Zheng had had the welcome effect of changing the subject, for which he was grateful.

“Yes, fine!” Toph said laughingly. “Nobody attacked us, don’t worry.”

“Sokka, look!” Aang was pointing at his map again, and Sokka obligingly peered over his shoulder. “She asked a group of travelers who just got here. They showed us on the map. There’s a waterfall! Look, it’s far enough away from the city but not unreasonably far… We can take Appa and be there in a few hours...”

“Sweetie, let him eat something.” Katara pushed a basket of pastries and a plate of eggs and rice towards Sokka. Toph had already started in on them. “And I want to hear about whatever just happened.”

“OK, but we’re going camping _tonight_ , guys,” Aang insisted. “I mean it. I already bought some food, and I found out where we could get sleeping bags in case anyone needs one...”

“So what happened?” Katara asked again, ignoring Aang.

Toph was in the middle of chewing a whole egg. She pointed at Sokka, and he spoke. “The Order of the White Lotus wants Toph to join.”

“Join… what?” asked Katara. “Some special mission?”

“That’s what we said,” said Sokka. “No, they want her for the Order itself.”

Katara choked slightly on her tea, and Aang actually looked up from the map. “What?” they said in unison.

“You heard the man,” said Toph. “They want me. Due to my extraordinary metalbending prowess.”

“Well!” Aang leaned back in his chair. “Aren’t you the popular one, Sifu Toph!”

“How about that,” Katara agreed. “Last night the Avatar himself approached you to join the Group of Gab, and now the Order of the White Lotus…!”

“The Group of Gab?” Toph asked.

“Still working on a name,” Sokka said hastily. “I’ve got a lot of ideas.”

“Toph, I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but… was there some sort of explanation? Other than the metalbending?” Katara asked hesitatingly. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re amazing, your metalbending is amazing, and _of course_ you deserve to be in the Order if you want to, but…”

“No, I agree, Sweetness,” Toph said. “I can’t understand it either. It’s so random. Why would they think I’d fit in with a bunch of old men…? Am I emitting old masculine vibes?”

Sokka choked on his roll while Aang and Katara laughed. He was glad Toph wasn’t actually looking for an answer. That would have been a definite “no” from him.

Toph put the sheaf of papers down on the breakfast table. “They also don’t seem to have really clocked the fact that I’m blind. I’m supposed to read all of this in private and keep it top secret. So I figure you three can take turns reading out loud to me, and then as a group, you can help me make this decision.” She sifted through the papers. “He said one of these was a letter from Iroh, so let’s actually pay attention to that.”

“A letter from Iroh!” Katara said excitedly. “Here, this looks like…” she grabbed an envelope. “Yup. OK.” She opened it up. “My dear friend,” she began, “It has been far too long…”

“Not a bit like Iroh,” said Sokka, snatching the letter from Katara. He put on his deepest, most gravelly voice. “My dear friend, It has been far too long since we shared a pot of tea. I do hope you have practiced the techniques I showed you…” Sokka paused. “Iroh was teaching you to make tea?” he asked in awe. Toph gave a smug little nod. “Wow…” He resumed his Iroh voice. “I do hope you have practiced the techniques I showed you, as my nephew continues to show little interest and even less aptitude when it comes to the art of tea-making. Don’t forget that if the tea is black, the water must be at a rolling boil, but if it is white or green, this may burn the more delicate leaves. Also don’t forget to adjust the steeping time if you are making a blended tea, and remember that a syrup sweetener will…” Sokka scanned the letter and looked up. “This goes on for a while. Can I skip past the tea paragraphs and re-visit them with you later?”

“Please.”

“OK… here we go.” Sokka resumed Iroh-voice. “I also hope that Zheng and Ju Long have found you well, and have shown you the best side of the Order of the White Lotus, although I confess I wonder and worry about that. I need you to know, my young friend, that while the Order of the White Lotus has done much good in the world, and I do not regret my years of service in its name, it is an organization made up of human beings and is therefore deeply imperfect. We are a collection of some of the oldest men in the world, and our perspectives and understandings are limited. You, my friend, would bring a wind—not just a breath—of fresh air to our society. I have no doubt that we would benefit immensely from having you as a member. I do have my doubts as to whether you would benefit in equal part, whether we would do as right by you as you would do by us.”

Sokka paused. All four brows were furrowed. “He’s talking about exactly what you were worried about,” Aang said.

Sokka continued. “I will not try to influence your decision, young one, but do please write to me if you have questions. Please write to me even if you do not have questions, as I miss you and our conversations. I am sure you are having a friend read this out loud to you, and I send them my thanks for that service, as well as greetings. And if it is young Sokka…” Sokka laughed out loud. “If it is young Sokka, he should know both that his impression of my voice is faulty and that he owes me a letter.” He paused for everyone’s laughter. “I remain, yours in friendship, Iroh,” he finished.

Katara sipped her tea. Aang reached for a roll. Toph seemed deep in thought. “He seemed to know that there might be… _issues_ with how Ju Long and Zheng approached me, and he anticipated that I’d be wondering why I was approached,” she mused. “But he doesn’t come out and say why I _was_ approached.”

“We can write to him and ask outright, if you want,” Katara offered.

Toph paused, and then said, “Let me think about it for a day.”

 _“While camping!”_ Aang pounced.

The other three groaned, and Katara finally turned to him. “Sweetie. What is it with you and this camping trip?”

“I just…” Aang broke his roll into several smaller pieces. “It’s been over a year since we all saw each other together like this. And who knows when we’ll ever get to do it next? We’re not getting any less busy, none of us are.” He raised a piece of the roll to his mouth, then put it down again. “You and I barely get any uninterrupted time together, Sweetie, let alone the four of us. We have a lot of… _responsibilities,_ and they always find us and catch us, and I don’t see that getting lesser as we get older…”

A tone of melancholy had entered in his voice, and Sokka heard the note of real desperation underneath it. He clapped Aang’s shoulder. “OK, Aang, you got it. I’m in for this camping trip.”

“Me too,” said Toph. “I can’t wait to smash you with some rocks.”

“I’ve already got everything packed,” said Katara. “We can leave whenever you want.”

Aang looked so happy he might cry.


	9. 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything...
> 
> This will be the only chapter from Aang and Katara's POV.

There were moments that Aang wished he could freeze, bottle, preserve. How wonderful it would be to have a cabinet full of precious moments protected in bottles, he thought. A place where you could go, uncork one, and relive it whenever you wanted.

Katara and Sokka were fighting over something to do with the tent canvas she’d packed, a parachute-like thing. Eventually, she threw it at him; it hit him square in the face and draped over his head. He pulled it off and threw it back at her. Aang was viscerally reminded of when she’d thrown Sokka’s pants at him, only a few days after he’d met them both. For an instant, Aang thought that the cabinet of precious moments did exist, and he’d managed to find that bottle, uncork it, and relive it.

Toph hoisted herself up with a hand from Sokka. Aang smiled sappily at the other three from the front of the saddle. “Everyone in? Are we ready?” Three “yes”es. “Yip yip!”

“Oh, God.” Toph swore and clutched Sokka’s arm. “I always manage to forget how much I hate this… no offense, Appa, you know I love you…”

Aang waited until Appa reached a good height and leveled out his flying to ask Toph if she’d made a decision yet about the Yackety Yak Unit.

“The Yackety Yak Unit?” Toph repeated.

“So many ideas,” said Sokka. “I do like that one, though.”

“Well.” Toph settled back a little, relaxing against the side of the saddle. Sokka shifted so she could maintain her hold on his arm. “It’s a tough one, Twinkle Toes. I’m very busy, you know.”

Sokka immediately launched into one of his prepared persuasive speeches. “Toph, you have to. Just picture this. The boss of an oil company…” Aang caught Katara’s eye and they both laughed silently while Sokka spun his story.

When he finished, Toph was frowning, apparently thinking hard. “Well, it is a powerful idea…” she mused. “But how many oil bosses are there, really, in the world? Would I have that much of an impact?”

Immediately, Sokka launched into his second scenario, which involved embezzlement and gangsters. Toph was grinning now too, and Aang knew she’d already decided. She was just yanking Sokka’s chain. And when he finished that story, she asked for another, and he was halfway through his example of a lunatic obsessed with border walls who was spreading anti-immigrant hysteria and hate when he realized what she was doing and ground to a verbal halt.

The other three laughed. “Yes, of course I’m in, Twinkle Toes,” Toph said. “A round of applause for Katakka here.” Sokka poked her in the stomach. She slapped his hand away and gave him a slight kick. They exchanged extremely minor blows for a few minutes, Toph never relinquishing his arm, Sokka never pulling it away.

They would have made such a cute couple in another life, thought Aang regretfully. It was such a pity they’d never in a million years think of each other that way. He turned to say as much to Katara, quietly of course, only to find her watching them intently, her expression much more serious than he’d expected.

“What?” he asked her.

She gave a start, then rearranged her face. “Nothing,” she said quickly and quietly. Then, “Katakka?” she asked loudly, interrupting the roughhousing.

“Oh,” said Toph, straightening herself out. “That’s his new name. Ju Long called him it. Isn’t it great?”

“Is that a combination of…” Katara asked, grimacing.

“Yup.” Sokka rolled his eyes.

Aang started laughing. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Katakka Water Tribe, your lord Katakkaness.”

“Your Avatartinude. How you do go on,” Sokka answered.

Aang suddenly became vividly aware of the sound and texture of all four of their distinct laughs piercing the air. He was so happy that he felt, for a second, that he might cry. He thought back to the moment he’d very nearly let Katara go for all time—let go of all attachment to all people, let go of the ability to love forever. It was the narrowest escape of his life that he hadn’t succeeded. Narrower, he considered, than the fact that he’d briefly died.

He felt a compulsion to hug everyone and never let go. He tamped it down. Instead, he tried to file away the exact sound of all their laughter, folded together into a cacophony of joy. Mentally bottling it and storing it away, a precious moment to revisit over and over again.

***

“You almost  _ kissed? _ ”

Sokka threw up his hands. “Say that a little louder, why don’t you, Katara?”

“You almost  _ KISSED??? _ ” Sokka clapped his hand over her mouth this time. She shrugged him off. “They can’t hear me, you know how they get when they’re training, they can barely hear themselves.” She stuck a tent pole in the ground. “What on earth happened?”

Briefly, Sokka told her. Cactus juice, pretending to be drunk off mulled wine, barging into the kitchen, dancing around with Toph on his feet… it all checked out. Classic Tokka. Katara said a prayer of thanks that she hadn’t been there.

“And then, uh, yeah, I almost kissed her, while we were dancing. And she seemed into it!”

“Hold up.” Katara held up a hand. “If she was into it, why was it an  _ almost _ kiss?”

“Because right at that moment, we heard Dohna, out the window.”

“Ah.” Katara stopped her work and crouched down, thinking hard. “And then you came and got me and Aang…”

“Yes, the moment was clearly over by then. And later that night, I apologized, and she cut me off, said she didn’t want to hear it.”

So this was what Toph had been upset about, what she’d refused to talk to Katara about. “Oh, Sokka…” She looked up at him. He had hauled a huge branch over and started chopping it up for firewood, hacking at it angrily.

“What happened this morning? How did your coffee go?”

He paused his machete. “Honestly, it was… rough.”

She stayed silent, feeling for him. Subdued, he went on, “we never really tackled it head-on. We talked around it. She cried. I said I was sorry again, and she basically said that she thinks of me as a brother and can’t stand the thought of losing that.” He spoke this very quickly.

Katara winced. She’d always felt any pain of Sokka’s as if it were her own. He took a huge swing at the branch with his machete, mindless of whether he was actually producing firewood. She couldn’t stand this. She stood up and wrapped her arms around him.

He wilted a little on her shoulder. “Then the Order of the White Lotus interrupted us. Now you’re caught up.”

“Sokka, honey, I’m so, so sorry.”

He pulled back. “Thanks, sis.” He went back to chopping up the branch.

She hesitated, then asked, “do you want a healing session?”

“Maybe later,” he replied. “I find that hitting things with a machete does more to heal a broken heart…”

“Sokka, I…” there was a question in the back of Katara’s mind, a lingering doubt that she couldn’t shake. She fumbled for words. “I don’t want to make you keep talking about this when it’s so painful, but can I ask, did she actually say ‘I see you as a brother?’ Was she that explicit?”

Sokka paused again. “No, actually, she wasn’t. She said I was both best friend and family to her. What made you ask that?”

Katara hesitated again, wringing her hands. The last thing she wanted was to give her brother false hope, but… “The way she was on the flight here. The way you both were.” Sokka’s cheeks darkened just a tad. “You were being very flirty. And it wasn’t one-sided.”

“Yeah,” Sokka said. He fiddled with the handle of his machete. “Yeah.” They were both silent for a minute, then he said “I don’t know what to make of that. But clearly, you’re thinking something…”

Katara was, in fact, wondering whether Toph could really be so heartless as to flirt with Sokka when she had no desire to pursue a relationship. It didn’t seem like something Toph would do. Toph could be crude, rude even, sarcastic and cutting—but not cruel. At least, Katara had never known her to be cruel.

Plus, Suki had always believed that Toph had nursed a secret crush on Sokka. In fact, Suki had claimed to know it, not just believe it. Katara had observed Toph carefully, looking for confirmation signs, and if she had ever had a secret crush, she’d hidden it well. It was just these little things, they added up to the merest hint of a possibility that...

But Sokka was saying that Toph didn’t want to go there. And last night, when she and Toph were searching for Dohna, Toph had definitely seemed upset about what had just happened, which was not a good sign. Whatever was going on, Katara had to watch out for her big brother above all. 

“I just think you should be careful,” Katara said. “You’ve worked really hard to get over her. A whole year without seeing her, focusing so hard on your projects in the South Pole… and then, after just a few hours with her, you’re dancing on cactus juice, almost kissing her, she’s crying at coffee, and then you’re flirting on Appa a few hours later? This is a lot, Sokka. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Sokka turned back to the branch and raised his machete. “Yup. I know. You’re right.” He gave a huge, angry swing, and missed the branch entirely.

“Look,” Katara said. “I don’t mean to say you’re not allowed to have fun with her. Enjoy this vacation. Just… guard your heart. And fix your aim.”

Sokka winked at her, then drew back again. This time, his machete struck true.


	10. 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you all doing? I woke up with cold symptoms this morning... in the Beforetimes, I would have just moped and moaned but gotten through my day; today it was like DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN. Weird times, y'all, weird times. I scheduled a test for tomorrow. My guess is it'll be negative. Knock on wood.
> 
> Here it is, anyways. Who ordered the chapter with extra cheese?
> 
> I don't own any of this.

Nothing healed a broken heart like pounding rocks to dust and hurling boulders at the Avatar. Aang’s earthbending was rusty indeed, and Toph enjoyed letting him know it. After some review and practice, they’d sparred. She’d beaten him easily when he was limited to earth, so they gradually added in the other elements, as was their routine. He hadn’t beaten her until he could use all four. Now they were soaking off the mud and dirt and sweat in the pool of water next to the waterfall.

“Do you want a swimming lesson?” Aang asked. “Payback for the training session, since you get paid for this kind of thing now?”

Toph was sitting on the rocky floor, only about two feet deep, but her whole body clenched at the idea of a swimming lesson. The Gaang had been trying to teach her to swim for the past few years, but it never seemed to take. Mostly because she always panicked.

“I thought you said this was shallow all the way across,” she said hastily, gripping the rocky floor with her fingers.

“It is, but we could still practice floating on your back.”

Toph said nothing, trying to think of an excuse.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Aang said, “but maybe it would make it a little easier, knowing it’s shallow.”

“Fine, Twinkle Toes.” She wanted to conquer this fear. She extended her hand; Aang took it and pulled her up, and a few minutes later, she was lying on her back in the water, Aang’s hand under her shoulders.

“You’re doing great!” he said. “You don’t wiggle around nearly as much as you used to."

“Still with the positive encouragement... ever the softie…”

“Hey, I don’t ask you to change your teaching methods, don’t insult me for mine.”

She didn’t like it--the thought that she would drown if she flipped over was too distracting--but Toph could almost understand how floating on one’s back in the water could, maybe, under the right circumstances, perhaps be pleasant. If one wasn’t worried about drowning. She felt the sun playing upon her face, heard the lapping water in and out of her ears, and felt Aang’s hand between her shoulder blades. Last time it had been Sokka’s hand there. He’d had the other on her stomach, holding her steady.

“Want me to try taking my hand away? See if you can do it on your own?” asked Aang. When Sokka had asked, she’d said no, don’t you dare, she would drown if he took his hands away, don’t even think about it, Sokka.

“Sure,” she told Aang.

*****

That night, after they’d eaten, as they sat around the fire, Katara cleared her throat. “Um,” she said. “Aang and I have a little announcement.”

“Now?” Aang asked, his teacup paused midway to his mouth.

“YES!!!!!!!!!” Sokka yelled, and he tackled them both. Aang’s tea went flying behind him. Toph felt a grin stretch across her face, and she jumped on the pile.

“Guys,” Aang said from somewhere around her elbow. “Are you gonna let us tell you?”

“Not necessary.” Toph thumped his back. “Do you have a date set?”

“Sometime next summer,” Katara answered, standing and brushing herself off. “South Pole. And you’ll both be in the wedding, so, you know, clear your calendars.”

“Your wedding.” Toph couldn’t stop smiling, hard as she tried. Sokka stood and lifted Katara off her feet in a crushing hug. She could feel his heart--he was beside himself with joy, they all were. Aang was still facedown in the dirt, and Toph, still lying halfway on top of him, reached to thump him on the back again. “How’d you propose, Wedding Guy?”

He shifted to face up. “On a whim. It was a while ago. She said yes, but we agreed we were too young, so I waited a few months and secretly worked on her necklace. Then I proposed again with that, and she knew I was serious…” he trailed off, his voice choking. Toph punched his arm.

Katara and Sokka were both sniffling when he finally set her down, and said a few more things to each other that Toph couldn’t make out and knew weren’t hers to hear. Toph stood, releasing Aang and feeling tears well in her own eyes. Sokka kissed Katara’s cheek one more time and then tackled Aang again before he could stand. Toph walked to Katara and put her arms around her.

“Congratulations, Katara,” she said softly.

Katara, openly weeping now, seemed slightly stunned. “That’s it? No joke from you about how I’m stuck with the Fancy Dancer for the rest of my life, or something?”

“Not this time,” Toph said, her chin trembling. “Not this time. I’m really, really happy for you both. Congratulations, Katara.”

Katara burst into loud sobs. Toph let her cry on her shoulder. They’d never done that before.

*****

The fire was almost out. Aang and Katara were cuddled close together; all the wedding talk had brought out the oogies again, and finally, Toph and Sokka retreated to the opposite side of the fire.

Toph sat and leaned back against a fallen log. “So, how’s it feel to know Aang will soon be your brother-in-law?"

“Wow.” Sokka sat next to her. “I hadn’t thought of that. He already feels like a brother, though, so not much is actually changing…"

“It is, though.” Toph tugged on an errant strand of her hair. “You three will be real family. Not just, you know, Team Boomerang family.”

“Toph.” He was studying her face; she could tell by the angle his voice was coming from. “You are family. Real family. To all three of us. You know that, right?”

She plucked at her hair again.

“Didn’t you hear Katara say you’ll be in the wedding? She thinks of you as her sister.”

“That’s true. She’s certainly bossy enough to be a sister.”

“That’s right! You see?”

Toph smiled. “Sorry. It’s not about me, their wedding, I shouldn’t be making it about me.”

“Nah, don’t worry, I did it too.”

“What do you mean?”

Sokka spoke softly. “I keep wondering if they’re going to invite Suki.”

Toph let out a long breath. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

“Over a year ago.”

Wow. They’d been broken up longer than she knew. She thought Suki had ended things sometime within the last year… breaking his heart, no doubt...

“Does Katara still talk to her?”

“Yeah, they write to each other. I don’t think a ton, but they’re in touch. Suki has a new boyfriend.”

“Really.” Toph muttered a few choice words for Suki under her breath.

“Stop it, she doesn't deserve that,” Sokka said reproachfully.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re not holding onto hard feelings, but it’s my privilege as best friend to stay as mad as I want for as long as I want.”

Sokka laughed. “But there’s no reason to be mad, seriously. I’m completely over her and I wish her well.”

He wasn’t lying… odd, that. Maybe he really was over Suki, finally. Toph found that hard to believe, though; they’d been so intertwined for so long, she had often wondered if he’d ever really get over her. Maybe he’d just done a really good job of convincing himself he was over her.

They continued chatting as it got darker. Toph was finally starting to feel drowsy, but she didn’t want to go to bed yet. Not while the fire was warm and crackling, and Sokka, also warm and crackling, was next to her. He seemed on the verge of sleep, too; his voice was a murmur when he asked, “you ready for bed?”

“Not yet,” she answered, resting her cheek on his shoulder. She didn’t say anything else.

There was a pause, and then Sokka shifted to provide more of his shoulder. “Me neither.”

Toph drifted off.

*****

A few minutes later, she was awakened by the screech of a messenger hawk, which plopped itself down in front of Aang and proffered him its leg, upon which a scroll was attached. Aang took it automatically.

“Don’t open it until tomorrow…” Katara said. “It can wait until tomorrow…”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Aang pushed it away. “I’ll leave it here. Right here. We’ll read it tomorrow morning.”

Katara snatched it and opened it.

“Sweetie!” Aang scolded.

“I know, I know. I won’t be able to sleep, I’ll be wondering if Dad’s OK. I won’t tell you what it says unless it’s life or death.” She read it through hastily, then a second time, then a third, her heart picking up. Then she folded her arms and gave the ground an angry kick.

“What did it say?” asked Toph. 

Katara threw the paper away from her. Toph felt it flutter lightly to the ground. The messenger hawk waited patiently, stretching its wings. 

“OK, now you have to tell us,” Aang said. 

Silence. 

“Come on, Sugar Queen, how bad is it?”

Katara huffed, then—“Sokka, can you kill and roast that bird?”

“Sweetie!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay well, y'all. Wear a mask, wash your mask, and all that. And if you're in the US and over 18, VOTE.


	11. 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I don't own ATLA!

Katara sat with her arms folded, her face murderous. Aang read the letter quickly and exhaled a small tornado. “Monkey Feathers!” he said, and Sokka reminded himself, for the umpteenth time, to teach Aang some swear words. 

Sokka jumped up, grabbed the letter from Aang, and scanned it. It was from the Earth King, and it was long. His eyes skimmed over the fancy-schmancy Earth King script, catching phrases like “in need of your urgent assistance” and “violent segment of the population” and “the death toll is mounting.”

“Ugh,” he said, before he’d even finished it.

“If someone doesn’t read it to me in the next ten seconds,” announced Toph, “I will have the earth swallow you all whole.”

“OK, OK.” Sokka didn’t even bother to put on an Earth King voice; it wasn’t that kind of mood.  _ “My dear friend, Avatar Aang, I hope you are well and happy, and I wish the same for your dear friends. And I wish I were writing to you under better circumstances here on my end. _

_ I am in need of your urgent assistance. Have you heard of the island of Saipan? It is a gorgeous little island off the Eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom. It contains some of the most magnificent beaches and cliffs in the Earth Kingdom, and the vast majority of the people who live there are kind, and honest, and hardworking, and just want to live their lives in peace, as they have for over a thousand years. _

_ Unfortunately, they are at the moment barred from that peaceful life by an insurrection among a tiny but violent segment of the population. These are separatists, an army of guerilla warriors who believe that Saipan would be better off if it cut ties with the Earth Kingdom’s government and retreated into complete isolation. How such a tiny island would survive, were we to grant their wish and cut them off, is something these separatists haven’t considered—nor do they care that 99% of their population of course identifies themselves as proud Earth Kingdom citizens, and have no desire to separate from us (I have proof of those numbers and sentiments). _

_ This guerilla army—which calls themselves the Lon Nol—launched several attacks on Earth Kingdom government and policing institutions, first on Saipan, and then on one military target on the mainland when our central government declined to play their game by responding with force. Now, unfortunately, we have no choice, as the violence is spreading into the civilian population of Saipan and the death toll is mounting. _

_ I have received reports of homes, farms, schools, and one hospital in flames. The Lon Nol are truly desperate and will stop at nothing—even attacks on their own people, which they then blame on us Huang—to fan the flames of this one-sided conflict. _

_ I have sent the PCC to the island in an attempt to quell things. Unfortunately, last night I received word that the Lon Nol immediately attacked their makeshift base, killing several people and injuring many more. _

_ If this continues, I will need to send the military to put down this rebellion forcefully, which I do not want to do. All I want is to protect the Saipanese people and restore their peaceful lives as quickly as possible. My nightmare is that this will become a civil war, and all the destruction and bloodshed that would bring.  _

_ So I turn to you, my friend. I have heard that although the Lon Nol leadership is for the most part single-mindedly focused on revolution, they respect and admire the Avatar—they have invented an absurd parallel between your battle against the Fire Nation and their own violent cause, and in their heads, they continue your glorious work. I believe you may be the only person in the world who stands even a chance of resolving this peacefully. _

_ I ask you to come to Saipan as quickly as possible. I would not ask this of you if many lives were not at stake. _

_ Please send word as soon as possible, _

_ Earth King Kuei _

There was a brief silence when Sokka finished.

Aang massaged his temple. “It’s the Lon Nol,” he said, “at Saipan.”

“Of course it is,” Katara said, with a tone of resignation.

“Hang on.” Toph held up a finger. “Before we get there. I have questions.”

“Go ahead,” Sokka said.

“Question One. What’s the PCC?”

“I was wondering that too.” Sokka turned to Aang and Katara.

“It’s a newish paramilitary group in the Earth Kingdom,” Aang said. “The King has a lot more flexibility with what he can do with them than he does with the army, so he can, for example, send them to a place like Saipan as peacekeepers with a completely different presence than he would be able to do with the military.”

“What’s PCC stand for?” asked Toph.

“Um… Sweetie?”

“Production and Construction Corps,” said Katara.

“That doesn’t sound like a paramilitary organization… that sounds like, I don’t know a trade union,” said Sokka.

“Yeah,” said Katara. “I think on paper, its mission is economic administration and growth, but in reality, they’re somewhere in between police and military, and they report directly to the Earth King, not to the military. I’ve never liked paramilitary forces,” she admitted with a shrug, “not since we tangled with the Dai Li, but I can see why he’d want to send them in this instance… it’s an attempt to do something about the violence without escalating it, at least, not as much as sending the military would escalate it.”

“OK,” said Toph, “Question Two. Is His Highnessness sure that the version of the story he’s reporting is completely correct? Are we sure the Lon Nol want complete isolation?”

“I’m wondering that too…” said Aang.“I don’t think he would have included it in his letter if he didn’t have some evidence that his version is accurate. At any rate, he sounds so desperate that I don’t see how we have much choice but to go there, regardless. Especially if there have been civilian casualties...”

“Hang on,” said Sokka. An idea was starting to form in the back of his mind, but he wanted to let it germinate before he spoke it. “I have a Question Three. What does he mean by—” he checked the letter— “ _ The Lon Nol are truly desperate and will stop at nothing—even attacks on their own people, which they then blame on us Huang…  _ What does he mean by ‘us Huang’?”

“Huang is an ethnicity,” said Toph. “It’s the biggest, mainest, most dominant ethnic group in the Earth Kingdom. The King’s family name might be Huang, actually,” she mused. “I’m Huang. My family is very proud to be pure Huang, through and through, all the way back as long as you can trace,” she added bitterly. “That’s one reason I had to get some space from them again.”

“What do you mean?” Sokka was unaware that Toph was back to needing space from her parents.

“Satoru’s mother is Tarim. Not Huang,” Toph clarified. “When they found out, they blew a gasket…”

“I don’t understand,” said Aang. “Your father was happy to have him as a business partner.”

“Yeah, well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? They were happy to do business with Satoru, even to count him as a friend, especially when he was making them so much money. But they couldn’t cope with their precious, purely-Huang daughter dating him. That’s a different category.”

“That’s awful,” said Aang.

“Yes, it is,” Toph said shortly.

“Toph,” said Sokka, “is that why you and Satoru…?”

“What? Oh, no, no, that had nothing to do with it at all. At all,” Toph emphasized. “If I’d wanted to stay with Satoru, my parents’ prejudices would have been the last thing to stop us.”

For several reasons, this made Sokka strangely hopeful.

“So,” said Aang. “The Lon Nol. At Saipan.” He looked around, as if asking a class for ideas on how to solve a math problem.

“What with Dohna and everything, it seems too coincidental to be… a coincidence,” said Toph. “Do we think this is a trap?”

“Not if the letter is actually from King Kuei,” said Katara. “And that’ll be easy to confirm.”

“I’m not saying the King is involved in the trap,” Toph answered. “I just have a hard time believing this is all a coincidence.”

“But…” Katara tugged on her hair. “What difference does it make? What are we going to do, ignore the fact that there’s a civil war brewing and innocent people are dying? Aang has to go. What choice do we have?”

There was a beat of silence. Sokka almost opened his mouth to pose his idea, but Toph spoke before he could. “You’re right, I know, you’re right.”

“I actually have a Question Four.” Katara was still tugging on her hair anxiously. “Sokka, can you read that sentence with ‘us Huang’ again?”

_ “The Lon Nol are truly desperate and will stop at nothing—even attacks on their own people, which they then blame on us Huang,”  _ Sokka obliged. Katara tugged on her hair again. “What’s your Question Four?” Sokka asked.

“I don’t know how to say it.” Katara let go of her hair and sat on her hands. “Something about that sentence seems just… off…” she released a hand and gnawed on her thumb. “I’m sorry. Toph, stop me if I say something wrong here. It seems like he’s trying very hard to make it seem like he views the Saipanese people as equal citizens in the Earth Kingdom, but that ‘us Huang’ line seems like that he still thinks of Saipanese people as ‘them’ and Huang people as ‘us’.”

“I keep agreeing with you, Sweetness,” said Toph. “How weird is that.” Katara smiled.

There was another brief silence.

Sokka wasn’t sure his idea was the right idea. Maybe it was stupid. Masochistic. The wrongest idea he’d ever had. He cleared his throat anyways. “I think Toph and I should go to deal with this. It can be the first official mission of the Four Nation Formation.”

There was another brief silence.

“Actually, Sokka, I kinda like that name,” Aang said. “Although you do have to kinda sit with it and think about it for a second to get it…”

“Are you serious?” Katara cut in. Sokka looked at her. Her face was sharp, almost angry, and he could read her thoughts as easily as if they’d been written on her forehead.  _ We just talked about this,  _ she telepathized at him.  _ I told you to be careful, guard your heart, and now you want to go off on a TRIP where you’ll be together non-stop for God knows how long… _

“Yes, I’m serious,” Sokka said, meeting her gaze. “You two need a vacation, you know it’s true, more than either of us does. Toph needs to start building her reputation as the Avatar’s Butt-Whooper. This situation looks like it might call for butt-whooping. But in case it doesn’t, in case it requires finesse, I should go too. And either way, we can announce once and for all that the Avatar is no longer at the beck and call of people who just want to use him as leverage.”

Katara stood. “We haven’t done any formal planning for the diplomacy team, we don’t have any paperwork to give you to announce yourselves as representatives of the Avatar…”

“Sweetie, that’s not a concern at all,” said Aang. “I can write something and sign it in five minutes.”

Katara took a step towards Sokka, gesticulating wildly. “But we were all supposed to all have a vacation together, the four of us…”

“Katara, that’s not happening now no matter what,” said Sokka, advancing towards her as well. “You know it’s true. Aang can go alone, or you and Aang can go, or Toph and I can go. Those are our choices. We’re not going to go on a vacation, the four of us just chilling, while there’s a civil war brewing in the Earth Kingdom and civilians are dying, you just said so yourself.”

“But… but…” Katara and Sokka were now facing off. She looked helplessly to Aang, wordlessly asking for support.

“Sweetie…” he said. “Why are you so opposed to this plan? I hate messing up our vacation too, but Sokka’s making sense to me…”

“But… well… Toph! We haven’t even asked her what she thinks.”

“Oh,” said Toph. “Does she get a vote?”

“Toph.” Katara ran to her. “Is this something you want to do?”

Toph hesitated only a fraction of a section. Her face betrayed an effort to keep a poker face. “Yes, I’m in.”

“But... it could take way longer than two weeks. Don’t you have to get back to your school before then?”

“That’ll be a plus, from my point of view. ‘Hello, fighting people. I’m the Avatar’s Butt-Whooper, I’m here to whoop your butts, and I have to get back to my regular job in less than two weeks, so get in line.’” Toph leaned back, hands behind her head. “Even if I don’t get back in two weeks, the place basically runs itself. It’ll be fine. Yes. I’m in.”

Sokka watched the gears turning in Katara’s head. She could either get on board with this plan, or announce to all that her brother was in love with Toph and therefore this shouldn’t happen. For a second Sokka worried he’d made a horrible miscalculation.

“Well,” she said, straightening up, “there’s nothing we can do about it tonight, anyways. The first ferry out of Yu Dao isn’t until tomorrow afternoon. Let’s sleep on it, and we’ll regroup tomorrow.”

Ah. Not a total retreat, then. She wanted to try to change his mind before morning. She was clever, his sister.

“That’s fine with me,” said Sokka. “I’m ready for bed.”

“Me too,” said Toph and Aang at the same time.

“Sokka, you know where to get water, right?” asked Katara, gesturing to his empty waterskin.

“Hmm? Oh. The spring. Yes, Aang showed me, I remember where it is.”

“Good. You can show me the way, let’s go now.” She grabbed his hand and dragged him away from camp before Aang or Toph could utter a word.

“It’s in the opposite direction,” he said, stumbling to keep up.

“Good,” she said shortly. “We’ll take the long way. That’ll give us plenty of time to talk. I’m not done with you.”

“You don’t say,” muttered Sokka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vote, people, vote. I'm serious.


	12. 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening! Hope everyone's staying healthy. I don't own any of this.

Toph stretched, gathered her hair into her signature many-layered bun, stamped the dust off of her body, stomped one side of her earth tent down, and went to pee and brush and her teeth.

When she got back, Sokka handed her a cup of coffee. “It’s still hot,” he said. “I kept the fire going so it would still be hot for you.” He jerked his chin towards Katara, who was now dousing the fire a few feet away. “She wanted to put the fire out before, but I kept it going for your coffee.” Katara groaned out loud.

“You two are still fighting, then?” Toph had heard snatches of angry barbs thrown between them the night before—she hadn’t been able to decipher any specific words, but the tones spoke volumes. No wonder Aang was nowhere to be seen; he must have invented an excuse and bolted. She sipped her coffee. “Should I pull up a seat, or was that the end of it?”

Katara tossed the rest of her bending water on the fire. It sizzled and steam rose; almost, but not quite enough, to douse it completely. “I’ll go refill this now.” Her tone was biting. “I’ll finish dousing it when I get back.”

“I’ll do it, Katara,” Sokka said, standing up. “It’s small enough that I can stamp it out.”

“Well,” said Katara, “fine. Go right ahead. I need more water anyways, so I’ll leave you in peace.”

She started away. Sokka chased after her. “Katara, look, I don’t want to fight any…”

“Neither do I, I just want to refill my waterskin.”

“But Katara…”

“No, I mean it, go ahead and do it your way. You’re an adult, after all, as you keep reminding me, which means I can’t tell you to stamp the fire or not to stamp the fire, no matter  _ how _ stupid you’re being.” She turned on her heel and made to leave.

Sokka followed her again, grabbing her arm. “Katara, please, I’ll come with you, we can—”

Katara finally stopped and faced him. “Sokka,” she said. “I’m trying to storm off in a huff. It doesn’t work if you come with me.”

Sokka let her go, crossing his arms and snorting angrily. 

“Um.” Toph gestured to the last bit of fire. “I could have buried this, and the whole thing, in 2 seconds, anytime anybody wanted me to do that.”

“Yeah,” said Sokka grumpily.

“Now, Sokka,” said Toph. “I’m blind, so I do miss things sometimes. But I swear, it’s  _ almost _ —” she lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper— “ _ it’s almost like that fight wasn’t actually about the fire.”  _ She dropped the stage whisper. “What’s going on with you two?”

Sokka said nothing, but picked up a rock and threw it petulantly at a tree.

“What, are you 6 years old?” Toph said incredulously.

“She started it,” Sokka grunted.

“Oh, my God,” said Toph.

“Fine. Katara doesn’t want me and you to go off on this little adventure,” Sokka sat down next to Toph with a huff. “She thinks it’s a bad idea.”

“Did she say why…?”

There was a long pause. Sokka was rubbing his chin. Finally— “she just thinks it’s a bad idea,” he said again, sulkily.

“Ah.”

So. Katara knew, then, that Toph had feelings for Sokka, and was worried that he was leading her on. Sokka had probably told her everything that had happened the other night due to the cactus juice, and Katara had probably read him the riot act for it already… Katara was a good friend.

Toph took another sip of her coffee. Sokka had prepared it perfectly for her—a little sugar, a lot of cream.

“I’ll talk to her,” Toph said. Sokka looked at her. “Before we go. I’ll take her aside and talk to her.” She gave Sokka a strained smile. “It’ll be OK.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Sokka said. “At the end of the day, it’s really not her business…”

“When has that ever mattered? Anyways, you know she only does this because she cares. About both of us.” Toph punched his arm. “I’ll talk to her.”

*****

Toph had always wondered exactly how much Katara gauged about her feelings for Sokka. She knew that Katara had suspected her of a crush, back when they were kids; Katara had studied her carefully, looking for signs one way or the other. Toph always did her best to be undetectable and thought she’d done pretty well, but… Katara might have known more than she let on, especially if she’d ever talked to Suki about it, which she must have, at some point. And given everything that had happened two nights ago... And now her brother was about to take a trip, a mission, with Toph? Of course that would send Katara into high dudgeon.

She mentally rehearsed things she might say to Katara as she clung to her arm. She’d deliberately chosen Katara over Sokka as her stabilizer for the flight back, to try to butter her up a bit before they talked. Much as Toph pretended to be bad at diplomacy, she knew how to play to someone’s soft side.

“I’m sorry to hear about your parents being so hateful about Satoru,” Katara said softly. It was working already. “I had no idea.”

“Thanks,” Toph said. Normally, she might have stopped there, but she wanted to show Katara she was opening up. “It was a rough time. They said things that made me think, ‘who are these people?’ Things, like, about how any children we had would be half-breeds. Impure.” She shuddered.

“I— I— Well, I can see why you needed space,” Katara stuttered. After a moment of silence, she added, “I can’t imagine what I’d do if my dad said something like that.”

“That would never happen, your dad adores Aang.”

“True. I can’t wait to tell my dad we’re engaged, he’s going to celebrate for a month when he hears. That’s why I can’t imagine it.”

“Katara,” Toph whispered. “Can Sokka or Aang hear us right now?”

“Hmmm? Oh, no. Sokka’s up front with Aang, the two of them are yammering on about something, I can’t even hear them.”

“Good. Can I ask, are you inviting Suki to the wedding?”

Katara shifted, probably so she could get a better look at Toph’s face. “Yes, we are. I don’t know if she’s coming, though. I’m going to tell her that we completely understand if she decides not to come, but that she’s welcome. Why do you ask?”

I should have prepared an answer to that, Toph realized too late. Unwilling to betray something that Sokka had confided in her, she stammered, “I just—just, uh, wondered. I know weddings can get really, uh, emotional. And Sokka will be really involved, right? I dunno, I just, since I’m his best friend, I get to worry about whether he’ll have to deal with a run-in with the girl who broke his heart, on top of the rest of his responsibilities. Plus her new boyfriend,” she added clumsily.

Katara was silent for a long moment. Then she said, “Who told you Suki broke Sokka’s heart?”

“What? Nobody. I assumed.”

Katara stayed silent.

“It was the only explanation that made sense. Sokka came to visit me, a year and a bit ago. That was a great visit.” She giggled, remembering. “We had so much fun. We ended up spending one night in a garbage bin after we drank a lot of cac— um—” she coughed. “Cocoa. Anyways.” She cleared her throat. “It was an epic night. And Sokka was so, so happy, that whole trip, from the moment he arrived. I’d honestly never seen him so happy. And I figured Suki must have had a big something to do with that. He just seemed like he was in a really good place in his life.”

So good that when he’d left, Toph, imagining him returning to his perfect life in Suki’s perfect arms, had spiraled downward the worst she ever had in her life. So badly that she’d gotten back together with Satoru, briefly. Thank goodness she’d climbed out of that funk. Not seeing Sokka for a full year had helped. Hearing the news from Katara during a visit several months later—that Sokka and Suki had broken up, and Sokka was taking off for the South Pole to spend at least a year there—Toph had been baffled at first, then drew her own conclusions. It had been a surprise, the other night, to hear that he hadn’t spoken to Suki in over a year. She must have gotten some aspect of the timeline wrong… maybe Katara could set her straight.

Katara interrupted her thoughts before Toph could form the question. “Um, Toph.” Katara fiddled with her hair, then her skirt. “Sokka broke up with Suki. Not the other way around.”

“What???” Toph snapped bolt upright.

“Yeah. I thought you knew.”

“No…” Toph sank back down. “No, I didn’t know that.” Then, because she couldn’t resist— “did he break her heart?”

“I’ll let you talk to him about that,” Katara said delicately.

“Heh. Not likely. He didn’t even tell me he broke up with her, he clearly doesn’t want to talk about this with me.”

“Well, have you tried asking him about it?”

Toph bit her lip. “No, actually. His relationship with Suki was never something we really talked about.”

“Why do you think that is?”

Wow, Katara could be nosy. Toph bit back the retort she wanted to give (“butt out, Miss Busybody”) and forced herself to give the real answer, sharing the information she’d planned to share all along. “The truth is, I never wanted to hear about it. He tried to talk to me about her a few times early on, but I shut him down. And I think you know why, or you can guess. Katara, listen.” Toph turned her face fully towards Katara’s and put on her best I’m-all-grown-up voice. “I've changed since then. I'm not a little girl with a crush anymore, I'm a grown woman and my head is screwed on straight. I know you’re worried about this trip. And you’re a good friend, really, for worrying. You’ve always been a better friend to me than I’ve been to you. But you don’t have to worry. Sokka and I are best friends. That’s who we are. I can handle myself. I know that he’s not looking to—change that in any way. So you can stop being mad at him.”

“Toph, what are you—”

“I’m serious, Katara. I’ve got no delusions. I have no interest in being a rebound for him. I know full well that he’ll probably get back together with Suki later if not sooner, anyways. I know that most of his heart is still with her, no matter how often he lies and says he’s over her. I’m comfortable with my role as best friend here. In fact, it’s really important to me. So quit worrying.”

Katara went silent, and stayed silent for so long that Toph started to worry she’d offended her somehow, or broken her brain, or perhaps Katara had simply fallen asleep during her long speech.

“Katara? You still there?” Toph squeezed her arm.

“Um,” Katara said.

There was another long silence.

“...you OK?”

Katara’s voice was tight. A bunch of words came tumbling out all at once, as if she couldn’t control them. “This is absolutely not my business, Toph, and I’m not completely sure what’s happening here, but—if I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing—if—you just need to know. Sokka is—” she paused, took a deep breath, and rubbed her brow. “Sokka is not lying when he says he’s over Suki.”

“I know he’s not lying, but maybe he’s fooling himself? I mean, will he ever  _ really _ be over her…?”

“Toph.” Katara was so intense, so serious, all of a sudden. “It’s not my business… not my place… but you need to know this. Sokka is  _ definitely _ over Suki.”

Her words hung in the air as if she’d pronounced some sort of verdict.

Then Appa touched down with a crash, and Toph heard the last voice she’d expected, or wanted, to hear.

“Toph!” called Ju Long. “At last, you’re back.”

“ _ Sifu  _ Toph!” called Zheng. Great, they came as a pair. “We need to talk to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I’m trying to storm off in a huff. It doesn’t work if you come with me.” -- I can’t take credit, that’s from Buffy.


	13. 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot cope, y'all. This election (not to mention the SC confirmation) is sucking every ounce of sanity right out of my body. For God's sake, let's get Mitch or die trying.
> 
> I don't own any of this.

Appa touched down. Sokka squinted into the light reflecting off the water; they’d landed right near the docks so he and Toph could get directly onto the ferry to Omashu. From there, they’d take an airship to Ba Sing Se, where they’d meet King Kuei.

“Who are they?” Aang asked.

Sokka turned to look where Aang was pointing. Two older men were hurrying towards them.

“Toph!”

“Sifu Toph!”

“Oh, not them again… the White Lotus guys,” Sokka said with a groan. He glanced at Toph; she was not trying to hide her irritation, not even a little. 

“Sokka, can you come with me…?” she called to him. 

“Yup.” He turned back to Aang. “Just who we didn’t need right now. We’ll talk to them, you and Katara can wait for us up ahead.” He hopped down. Toph landed next to him.

“Sifu Toph,” Ju Long said breathlessly, “We’ve received additional instructions. We are to ask you to report to Master Ildico in Tu Lin Village. He will be your mentor.”

“I can’t,” said Toph curtly.

“All newly recruited members are assigned a mentor, Sifu Toph. It is an extraordinary honor to be chosen by Master Ildico. Even so, he understands you may not be able to leave immediately. You have a full week to make the necessary arrangements.”

“I still can’t,” said Toph. “I’m doing other things.”

“Sifu Toph!” said Zheng. “Please. We will be happy to assist you however we can.”

“How did you even find me today? No—I don’t care.” Toph crossed her arms. “But I can’t go meet your friend. I’m going away, and I’m not telling you where, and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Sifu Toph,” Zheng said in a hushed tone. He looked around, anxious someone might overhear. “Please reconsider. Master Ildico is not our friend,” he continued. “He is our Master. He is the leader of the Order, and he’s offered to mentor you himself.”

“What???” Sokka couldn’t stop himself. None of this made any sense. Why was the Order so desperate to recruit Toph? It was starting to worry him. 

“Yeah. What Katakka said. Why?”

Ju Long and Zheng glanced at each other. Zheng shifted uneasily. “He’s taken an interest in you,” Ju Long said. “He’s anxious to meet the young lady who invented metal bending. Anyone would leap at the chance to be mentored by Master Ildico. You should be jumping for joy.”

Sokka shook his head. “Toph, we can go now, if you want.”

“I do want. Later,” she tossed at them.

“Stop! Please!” Zheng hurried to stand in their path. Toph gave a sigh. Sokka knew she was contemplating bending him out of the way, old as he was.

“You have ten seconds,” she told Zheng.

“Ildico wants to notify the Order that you’re joining. He’s asked us to write a few paragraphs about you to feature in his next mailing.”

Several thousand alarm bells went off in Sokka’s head.

Toph’s jaw dropped. “You guys have  _ mailings _ ? Like a newsletter???”

“It is an enormous honor to be featured in the mailing. The Order will be so excited you’re joining. We’d like to include your picture for the cover, too. Do you have an image you’d like to give us? If not, Ju Long can paint one.”

“OK, we’re done,” Toph said. She and Sokka stepped around Zheng. He tried to block their path again. Toph carefully and precisely bent the earth under him to carry him a few feet to the side. She executed it so smoothly he never lost his balance. She jerked her head and hurried Sokka away.

Sokka turned back to see Zheng and Ju Long conferring. Both looked bewildered and distressed. “Sifu Toph! Write us often!!” Zheng called.

Sokka chuckled, but with an edge of genuine anger. “Want me to go define blindness at them?”

“Ha! You say that like you’ve never forgotten that I’m blind or that I can’t write.”

“Hey, I haven’t done that in at least 5 years.”

“True, you worked hard on that… Sokka, they’re awful. How did they get to be so awful? Iroh’s nothing like them. What the hell is going on with all this, why are they so obsessed with me out of nowhere?”

Sokka coughed, not sure if he should say what he was thinking. They’d caught up with Katara now; Aang was nowhere to be seen. “What did they want this time?” she asked.

“For me to report for duty, and to feature me on the newsletter.”

“The  _ newsletter?? _ ”

“Yeah, let’s not spend any more time talking about them, please. We have a ferry to catch, don’t we? Where’s Aang?”

“We realized the ferry leaves in a half hour. He took the glider to get you tickets. Come on, you gotta get going.” She ushered Sokka and Toph towards the dock, where a line of passengers was already being admitted onto the ferry. “You both have everything you need?” She asked. “Water? Snacks? Bendables?”

“Yes, thanks, Mom.” Toph punched her arm.

Whatever Toph said to her, it clearly had worked. For someone who, only a few hours ago, had been yelling at Sokka that this trip was a mistake, Katara was now positively anxious that they might miss their ferry.

Aang landed in front of them. “I got your tickets for the ferry. I also asked whether they could sell me tickets for the airship, since it’s the same company. Luckily they can, and I got you the last berth on the one that connects to your ferry.”

“Just one berth?” Katara asked.

“Yes, they said it was fine to have two people to a berth as long as you have two tickets. You two won’t mind, will you? It’s only two nights. The other choice was to wait a whole week in Omashu for the next airship.”

One berth. Would he mind. Sokka’s brain stuttered. He looked everywhere but at Katara. 

“No, we won’t mind,” Toph said, slightly breathlessly.

“We don’t have much time,” Aang continued. “Here are the tickets... and here’s the thing I wrote saying you’re official representatives of the Avatar. Don’t embarrass me.” He passed Sokka everything.

“As soon as we see you off here,” Katara said, “Aang and I will write to King Kuei to confirm that letter really was from him. If it wasn’t, we’ll write to you immediately. We’ll send a hawk.”

Aang seemed more anxious than usual. “Guys… if it seems like it’s going badly, don’t be afraid to send for me, OK? Don’t worry about disrupting our vacation. If it goes wrong, I want to know, and I want to come.”

“Don’t worry, Twinkle Toes. We’ll keep you posted the whole time. You can always twinkle your way to our rescue.”

Aang didn’t laugh at all, and bit his nails instead.

“Aang, buddy, we’ll be fine…” Sokka said.

“There’s something I need to tell you about,” Aang interrupted. “A new weapon I’ve started hearing about.”

All three heads snapped towards him, all ears tuned in. 

“A new weapon?” Katara said. “You haven’t mentioned this to me.”

“I haven’t wanted to, it sounds really awful,” Aang said. “I’ve heard about the Earth Kingdom Army developing it. It’s called a grenade. It’s about the size of a peach. It’s got something in it that explodes. I’m not sure what. But from what I hear it’s not blasting jelly or exploding peanut sauce or anything like that, it’s worse. You throw it, and it explodes.”

“That doesn’t sound too different from blasting jelly.”

“It is different. The thing that explodes—it’s some sort of powder. Something with chemicals. I didn’t understand the idea. But it’s bad, that much I understand. I think it can kill you, even if you’re not super close to it.”

“You think the Lon Nol might have gotten ahold of some of these—what were they called?”

“Grenades. And yes, I think it’s possible there are grenades involved in the fighting there. Maybe on both sides.” He gave Sokka a quick hug. “Just—be careful.”

The hugs were going around the group, now. He heard Katara whisper something to Toph that sounded like “remember what I told you,” and then Katara pounced on him.

“Be good,” she said. “And here.” She pressed a small cloth into his hands. “A present for the road.”

Sokka took it, his nose confirming it to be seal jerky, and wondered what on earth had happened during Toph’s conversation with Katara to cause this turn-around. She hugged him again. “I love you, big brother.”

“I love you too, little sister. I’ll see you soon.” He kissed her cheek, then turned to Toph. “You ready?”

Toph hoisted her pack onto her back. “I’m ready.” She started up the ramp to the boat. Sokka waved goodbye once more to Aang and Katara, then followed her.

Katara’s worried-but-encouraging face lingered in his mind. For the first time all day, his thoughts and feelings caught up to him. Following Toph up the ramp, knowing that they were leaving Aang and Katara behind, prompted a headstorm of inner chatter.

Katara had spent an hour the previous night begging him to change his mind about this trip. He was doing something self-defeating, she argued, maybe even self-punishing. It wasn’t healthy. He couldn’t argue with her very effectively; he couldn’t tell her that she was wrong, because he was pretty sure she was right. He’d done his best, though. Toph and I are best friends, he’d told her. Best friends first and no matter what. We haven’t spent any time together in over a year, and we need to.

He WAS right about that, actually. Katara had scoffed and said he was trying to make excuses, but truthfully, he was desperate to reconnect with Toph. He still didn’t know why she broke up with Satoru, and had only found out last night that she was back to distancing herself from her parents. She still didn’t know what happened with Suki—that he’d broken up with her and broken her heart—or what had been going on in his life in the South Pole for the past year. They needed some best friend time together, to talk about these things. He’d tried and failed to be a friend to Suki, post-breakup—it had not gone well. He was dead-set on getting his friendship with Toph back to where a best friendship should be, and this trip could do it.

“Please tell me this is a metal ship?” Toph jolted Sokka out of his thoughts as they waited to board. “Not a wooden one? The last ferry I took to Omashu was wood…”

“It’s metal,” Sokka said.

“Hallelujah.”

Sharing a berth. It was just two nights. But he wondered how much sleep he’d get… if he’d get any at all. Thank goodness it was Toph, and she’d understand if he was up all night and needed to sleep during the day… but the thought was still daunting.

A plan. That was what he needed. He was the plan guy.

They stepped on board the boat. Sokka handed over their tickets. “This ride is only about an hour long,” said Toph. “Do you want to sit inside or out?”

“Out,” said Sokka. “It’s a nice day.”

Saipan and the Lon Nol and the Earth King and Dohna and Wen Yan felt like small potatoes compared to the fact that he and Toph would be sharing a berth for the next two nights, and spending every moment together for the next… who knew how long. He needed a him-and-Toph plan. A Tokka plan, as Katara would have called it. 

Goal #1: Re-establish best-friendship.

Goal #2: Respect all boundaries between friendship and romance. 

Strategy 1: No more cactus juice. 

Strategy 2: Make time to talk about important things, like Satoru and Suki (while sober).

Caveat: Protect his heart. Make sure he wasn’t setting himself up to get hurt. Take care of himself. Listen to that voice in his head that sounded like Katara.

The whistle sounded and the ferry set off.

“Why are you being so quiet?” Toph asked. “What are you thinking about?”

“Making a plan,” Sokka answered automatically. 

“A plan? We have a plan. I go in, do my thing. If that doesn’t work, you do your thing. If that doesn’t work, we give up and tell Aang it’s his problem.” She put her hands behind her head.

“Wow. I can’t believe we never put you in charge of the planning.”

“I can’t believe it, either.”

Goal #3: Leave the mission with a plan to move forward with their best-friendship—schedule their next meetup, so it wouldn’t be another year before they saw each other again. 

He’d just made a plan to make a plan, he realized. He only did that when he was  _ really _ anxious. 

“You’ve gone silent again. I demand to know what you are thinking about.”

“Just planning!” he said again, hastily. 

“OK, let me in on it. What’s the plan?”

“The plan is…” Sokka hastily switched gears. “The plan is, before you whoop anyone’s butt, we feel out the whole situation and make sure we understand whose butt needs to be whooped.”

Toph looked nonplussed. “I thought the whole point was to whoop everyone’s butt.”

“Not necessarily. If the Earth King is 100% right, you just whoop the Lon Nol’s butts and tell them they can’t launch a civil war that nobody but them wants.”

“I think it’s unlikely that the situation is as simple and clear-cut as that. Especially with that line about ‘us Huang’ from His Royal Highness.”

“I agree. Which is why I’m saying we need to feel out the situation and make sure you’re whooping the right butts. We may even need to try a little diplomacy while we figure things out.”

“Well, I hope there will be somewhere I can train while you do the boring diplomacy stuff.”

“No, Toph, I’m going to need you during the diplomacy,” Sokka said seriously, turning to her. 

“What? Nobody needs me, during any diplomacy, ever. I’m useless. Wasn’t that the whole point of sending us both? You’re the diplomatic one.”

“I’ll do the heavy lifting, yes,” said Sokka, “but I might need you on hand to say ‘I’m Huang, and these power dynamics are screwed up, they favor Huang people like me and that needs to change.’”

Toph’s face changed, growing more serious. “I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted.

“Come to that,” Sokka continued, “I might need you around in case some of them aren’t willing to take a non-bender seriously.”

Toph’s head snapped up, rigid. “You really think that might matter—even with the letter from Aang?”

“These days, you just never know. It probably won’t be an issue. But it’ll be good for me to keep you nearby.”

Toph sucked her teeth. “What a world… people are idiots, so I’ve gotta babysit you...”

“I need you, Toph,” Sokka said. He put on a dramatic, stage-romantic voice. “Promise me you’ll never leave my side, I can’t live without you!”

Toph blushed and grinned. She tried to bite back the grin, but it slipped out again. “OK, don’t worry, Katakka, I’ll stick with you, just stop talking like that.” She punched his arm. “While we’re on the subject, you’ll have to go everywhere with me on the airship. Unless they’ve changed them to a metal frame…?”

“Nope. Nothing but cloth and wood. We’re stuck with each other.” It wasn’t that funny, but Toph was smiling again, a little, almost-guilty smile that teetered between vanishing and turning into a giggle.

“It’s ok, Toph. I promise I’ll bathe.” Again, not that funny, but Toph giggled anyways. Then she bit down on her lower lip, trying to physically bite back her laugh. It escaped again. Sokka couldn’t stop staring at her.

It occurred to him, accompanied by a hollow sense of futility, that he could list all the goals, strategies, and caveats he could think of—none of them mattered. When it came down to it, he would always do or say anything, if it would make Toph smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things...
> 
> First, I know gunpowder did exist already in the ATLA universe during the show. Though they’re more likely to talk about blasting jelly and peanut sauce bombs (this being Nickelodeon), they had rudimentary cannons on the airships, as well as fireworks, which both point to gunpowder. So I’m (heeheehee) bending the rules a bit here; it’s a plot point for my story that gunpowder (and weapons like grenades) need to be new and unfamiliar to the characters. FanFiction, I bless thy name.
> 
> Also, I went back and corrected two small errors in prior chapters. I'd originally said the Garbage Can night was 3 years ago, before I knew it was going to be a plot point that it happened a little over a year ago, so I changed that. And, last chapter, I referenced the train to Yu Dao, and then I forgot and wrote them onto a ferry here. It doesn't actually matter, but it was easier to change the train to a ferry last chapter than re-write this one, so that's what I did.
> 
> I hope, the next time I post, it won't be while hiding under my covers.


	14. 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This hasn’t been widely reported, but it is a scientifically verifiable fact that this past week was actually the longest week of all time…  
> Thank You God and Thank You Stacey Abrams.
> 
> I don’t own anything but Biden/Harris sure owned Trump’s ass.

“SNEAK ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!”

Toph bent the pebbles she’d brought into a rock big enough to trip Sokka. He went sprawling.

“Sokka, how many times do you have to learn this? Sneak attacks only work if you DON’T yell it first.”

Sokka hit the ground hard but snapped right back up. “What would be the fun in that?” His voice bounced around; he was moving quickly. Toph crouched low. She wasn’t going to be able to track him down; her best bet was to overpower him when he finally came to her. This way it would be less easy to tackle her and roll over onto her cawing  _ “I win! I win! Non-bender Beats Rock!...” _ as he'd done five minutes ago. 

He’d jumped up as if he’d been stung, when he realized how close they were, and retreated to the corner until this “sneak” attack. She wondered whether she should have said “no” when he suggested this little training session.

But she couldn’t. Sokka had seen that the airship had a gymnasium, and got very excited. “We could spar, Toph! We haven’t done that in ages!” he said after dinner. 

“I only have two bags of pebbles… I won’t be able to see a thing…”

“That’s the point. You can barely bend, and you can’t see at all. I might actually stand a chance!”

“Stand a chance? Sokka, you’re going to cream me.”

“Well, that’ll be good for you too. You’ll grow from the unfamiliar experience.” He paused. “Besides, I’m not ready for bed yet. I’m going to have trouble sleeping no matter what, but if we spar first, maybe I’ll be calmer after…”

The berth. The one berth. It loomed. They’d only visited their 2-day lodgings long enough to stow their bags and remark “this is tiny.” They’d spent the trip so far avoiding it, and avoiding talking about it. They’d already spent time chatting outside, snacking in the mess hall, poking around the engines, spying on the pilot, and now, sparring. Not once had they discussed the one very small bed they would, eventually, try to sleep in. 

She was already down 2-0, and had fatalistically accepted her likely defeat. She assumed a Chow Gar kneeling stance and listened hard. She was sturdy enough that he probably wouldn’t be able to knock her over… The real question, though, was how to tackle  _ him _ , so that she could use the minimal earth she had to shackle him… then she could roll over onto  _ him _ and claim victory. She’d sit on his stomach, her hands holding onto his arms, and hold her breath… and before she had a chance to let it go, he’d be kissing her…

What. The. Absolute. Fuck. Stop it right now.

Sokka hit her from the side, startling her completely out of her thoughts. She lost her balance and fell flat on her stomach. He twisted one arm up behind her back, but that proved to be a mistake, because her other hand was free, and now she knew exactly where his hands were. She bent him into manacles.

He vaulted off her; she launched herself after him, but he was faster and better able to dodge her in these conditions. She heard him tugging at the manacles and ran at him, intending to pin him. He used a leg to sweep her own legs out from under her; then his weight was on her stomach and her own hands were pinned above her head. She hadn’t made the shackles tight enough, and he’d wiggled one hand free.

“Enough?”

“Definitely.”

He got up so quickly there was no time for any sexual tension to become palpable. “This is  _ great,” _ he enthused. “I  _ love _ beating you like this. Wanna go again?”

“I think my ego has had enough for one night, thank you.” She sat up and bent the rock dangling from his hand back into pebbles. “I really do need to learn more hand-to-hand. Even when I can see, it’s not my biggest strength.”

“I can train you on hand-to-hand, you know. We don’t have to just spar. I can even teach you some sword skills, if you want...”

“Good. Let’s start tomorrow. I’m beat. You said they have a bath here?”

“Yes… I’ll show you.”

She washed up as quickly as possible, fending off thoughts of how their sparring session  _ could _ have gone. In her fantasies.

Sokka was waiting for her when she emerged, a robe around her and her hair still dripping.

“How was the bath of champions?” she asked.

“Eh, I’ve used worse.”

“You ready for bed, or do you want a drink first?”

“No. No drinking,” he said decisively. “I mean, if you want one, don’t let me stop you, but not for me…”

“Let’s just go to bed,” she said. The specter of the one berth wasn’t going to go away. “Come on. The sooner we get into it, the sooner it’ll stop being awkward.”

“Who says it’s awkward?” Sokka said, his voice tight. “...He said awkwardly,” he conceded. “Come on, then.” He grabbed her hand and navigated them through the narrow, crowded corridors and back to their berth, which was a tiny compartment with a low ceiling. It had a small bed, a storage bunker beneath it, and a narrow space between the bed and the door. They hadn’t yet discussed the sleeping arrangement, but now it was upon them.

“I can sleep on the floor,” Sokka volunteered chivalrously, after they took turns changing. 

“Don’t be silly,” said Toph. “It’s narrower than the bed, you won’t get a wink. Besides, what if I have to get up to pee? I’d have to step on you.”

“OK, then. 2 in the bed. Do you want to be at the head or the foot? You can choose. I think the head’s a little higher.”

“Nuh-uh. No way. I am NOT sleeping with your feet in my face.”

“But, Toph…”

“Snoozles, have you  _ met _ your feet? Not happening. Deal with it. You can be the big spoon.”

“Well, OK, fine. Do you want inside or outside?”

That had been remarkably easy. Almost no resistance at all. She couldn’t help but grin. “Outside. I don’t want to have to climb over you if I have to pee.”

“Will you even be able to find your way to the bathroom…?”

“Yes, Katakka, I memorized where it is, I’m not totally helpless.”

“OK, OK!”

He climbed into bed with no further ado; she followed. There really wasn’t a lot of room, and their shoulders didn’t quite fit. After some tussling, Toph gave up and leaned her back halfway against his chest. He sat up a bit to accommodate her, and stretched his arm along her shoulders. He wasn’t exactly holding her, but he wasn’t exactly  _ not _ holding her, either.

She knew there was no way he’d fall asleep any time soon. The insomnia had hit him hard, when he was 20, and even under the best conditions, sleep was always a question mark for him. Under these circumstances…

“So,” she said. “What the hell do you think is up with the White Lotus guys stalking me?”

“Well.” He cleared his throat. “I actually have a theory, but I don’t know if you’ll want to hear it.”

“Try me,” she said. “I can’t figure it out at all.”

“Um.” He coughed, then cleared his throat again.

“Out with it, what are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering… if there’s ever been a woman in the Order of the White Lotus before.”

Toph thought about this. She didn’t remember ever meeting one.

“So you’re saying they only want me because they’ve realized they don’t have any women?” Her voice and her body had become tight.

“No, no, I’m saying—yes, fucking hell, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m sorry, Toph.”

“Well. I guess that makes sense,” she said shortly. “My worth to them isn’t that I invented metalbending, or that I gave up my entire life to train the Avatar in Earthbending and fight in the war myself… it’s that I have boobs.”

“I can’t tell if you’re mad at them because you think I’m right, or mad at me for saying it,” Sokka said softly.

“Can’t it be both?” Toph asked, crossing her arms. “What makes you so sure that’s what this is about?”

“The fact that they wanted to put an image of you in the newsletter,” Sokka said. “Master Piandao told me they did that to him, too, when they first recruited him. He realized pretty quickly that he was the first non-bender they’d ever had. They recruited him to prove to themselves that they weren’t prejudiced against non-benders.”

Toph’s heart sank. Bastards. She put rubbed her temple. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she mumbled. His hand landed on her shoulder. Now he really was holding her. 

They were getting dangerously close to... dangerously close. But Toph couldn’t bring herself to change anything. It felt too right, too good. 

“Piandao went through all this when they recruited him,” Sokka said. “This was a long time ago, but they told him they’d heard about his sword skills—making and using. And that was why they came to recruit him, they said. He soon realized that he was the only non-bender there. Then they immediately asked him to write a piece for the newsletter. He asked if he could write something about swords, and they hemmed and hawed and said ‘maybe next time’ until he finally asked what they wanted him to write about. And they said they wanted something like, I can’t remember exactly what, but it was like ‘How Non-Benders Think’ or ‘What It’s Like To Be a Non-Bender’. You know. As if he could speak for all non-benders.”

Toph’s mouth was open. “That is so… bizarre,” she said. She couldn’t fathom it. “I just can’t… how can people treat people like that? Are they gonna expect me to write something titled ‘All You Need To Know About Women’?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them. Master Piandao has… a lot of stories.”

“Why didn’t he ever quit? I don’t know if I would stick around, in that situation.”

“He almost did, a few times. He’s glad he didn’t. There are a lot of non-benders in the Order now, and it’s normal, not special. And that’s largely due to him and his work with them. But it took a long time. People were really resistant.”

“People suck. I just don’t get all this bender supremacy stuff. What is wrong with them? It would never even occur to me to think that way.”

There was a short silence, and then Sokka said, “Um.”

“Um what?” His heart had sped up, and he had become stiffer. 

“Toph, do you really… think about all the time we spent when I was the only non-bender in our group… do you think you three were always perfect in how you treated me?”

“No, of course we weren’t  _ perfect _ , we were definitely all jerks to each other at some point or another, but I don’t think we were ever  _ bender supremacist  _ jerks. Were we?”

There was another beat of silence, then Sokka said, low and slow, “3... on 3 plus Sokka.”

Toph thought for a moment, trying to access the memory… it was buried deep, but it was in there… she was remembering… she remembered… FUCK.

Toph sat up and slammed her fists into her thighs. “FUCK!!!!” This time she said it out loud.

She’d forgotten about that. Clearly, Sokka didn’t have the luxury of forgetting. She curled in on herself, imagining the shame he must attach to that memory, the sting that never quite went away and made it something he couldn’t forget. How many other memories like that did he have?

How many were she responsible for?

She pounded her fists against her thighs again. Sokka sat up too, and caught at the backs of her elbows. “Toph, hey…”

“No, stop it, don’t make me feel better, let me feel this shame,” Toph ordered. She balled her fists and pressed them to her temple, hard.

“But it’s OK,” said Sokka.

“No, it’s not!”

“I mean, no, it’s not, but Toph, how many sexist things have I ever said that you could hear? How many times have I been insensitive about you being blind without even realizing it? We’re both human, Toph.”

“I can’t think of anything you’ve ever said that’s that bad.”

“Well, I’m sure Katara could.”

Toph raked her hand through her hair. “I’m really, really sorry, Sokka.”

“I know. And I’m saying it’s OK.”

Toph sat back, chewing on her lip. “I mean, I’m sorry for that, and every bender supremacist thing I’ve ever said, but I’m also sorry for how I was talking a minute ago. As if I’m immune to this stuff.”

Sokka put his arm back around her. “Thank you.”

“What can I do to make amends?”

“Just—do what you’d normally do. Learn and grow. And stop beating yourself up. You were a 12-year-old, thoughtless, obnoxious kid. We survived that, and much worse. Our friendship is not fragile.”

Toph leaned her head against his neck. “It feels really wrong that you’re comforting me right now.”

“Well, you won’t believe this,” Sokka said with a yawn, “but I’m pretty sure I could fall asleep in the next few minutes. So we can call it a wrap on tonight, if that’ll make you feel better. ”

“Really??” She wiggled further down in the bed to give them both more room. “Well, go for it then. Wake me up if you can’t.” Toph’s first superpower, Sokka always said, was metalbending. Second was earthbending. Third was that she could fall asleep on command. It was a gift, she had to admit. “Goodnight, Katakka.”

“Goodnight, Earthworm.”

Earthworm? That was a new one. Well, it was only fair, if she was going to keep calling him Katakka… he could call her whatever he wanted… 

“I’m still really sorry,” she murmured. She wasn’t sure if he heard her. She drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, this was the chapter where they started to actually swear. Not sure why it took them so long.


	15. 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this done earlier than I thought I would. Here ya go, have fun, I don't own anything.

Thank  _ all the Gods _ . He’d slept. He even woke up before Toph did, feeling surprisingly refreshed and awake, considering he’d shared a bunk the size of a small cot the night before.

With his best friend/the girl he was painfully in love with.

Really, it was miraculous he’d slept. He said another quick prayer of thanks, hoisted himself up and gingerly climbed over Toph, and went to wash up and get dressed in the bathroom.

Toph was still asleep when he got back, and he wondered whether he should wake her. She might be grateful and want to get breakfast with him; or, she might attack him… 

She was curled tight in a ball, and mumbling something in her sleep, clearly dreaming. Sokka crouched down to get a better look at her face; every feature was scrunched tight, as if she was in pain. A bad dream, then. Sokka hesitated a moment, then gently shook her shoulder.

She continued mumbling, a stream of unintelligible words, but clearly distressed. Sokka shook her a little harder, and said “Toph! Wake up! It’s just a bad dream!”

She sat up and grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip. Her eyes opened, and even though they saw nothing, he could tell she was awake. “What?” she asked, breathing heavily. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s OK. It’s morning, time to get up. I saw you having a bad dream so I decided to interrupt it and wake you up. Sorry...” She continued to grip his wrist and tried to get her breathing under control. “What was the dream? Can you tell me?”

“It was— I— I was in a bender supremacist group.”

“Ah.” Sokka settled himself on the floor a little more comfortably. “This wouldn’t by chance have anything to do with our conversation last night?”

“I’m sure it does.” Toph sat up, let go of his hand, and rubbed her temples. “It was weird. I was in this group, and I had to keep it hidden from you, and they kept wanting me to do stuff I didn’t want to do...”

“Was it like the group in Cranefish town?”

“Sure was. Exactly the same. Except that the meetings weren’t so… intense, they were just another thing on my schedule, and there was nothing weird about it except I had to keep hiding it from you. Sokka, did I mention again how sorry I am for everything?”

“Wow, Toph, wow… come on, stop beating yourself up and get up instead.”

“I will, but please let me do something to show I’m sorry... I’ll even… I’ll wash your socks, if you want. Once,” she added hastily.

“Contrary to popular belief, I know how to wash my own socks, but here’s what you can do. Get up, come get breakfast with me, and then let me spend the day training you on hand-to-hand. It would be a pleasure for me, and you really do need it.”

Toph gave a half-smile. “You got it. Go ahead, I remember the way, I’ll find you at breakfast.”

****

Toph was working really, really hard. She’d worked hard all day, barely stopping for lunch. She had plowed through the basic warm-up exercises Sokka taught her to prepare for swordwork, when next they had access to something sword-like; he then started her on Kyoshi Warrior basic forms. Toph ran through the new forms as if she were dancing, and then did another round of the sword exercises. Then she did some Chow Gar that she already knew, before Sokka made her stop and eat a bite of lunch. But before he’d eaten half of his own lunch, she was up again, practicing the Kyoshi forms.

She was trying to take her mind off the night before, Sokka mused, as Toph bent over double, wheezing and looking nauseous, before she launched into another round. “Wanna spar?” she called over to him. “You’ll definitely beat me up, I’m about to throw up.”

So. She wasn’t distracting herself, she was punishing herself.

Sokka walked toward her. Toph assumed a Kyoshi form and shot her fist at him. Sokka caught her hand instead of dodging it. “Toph. Time to stop and stretch.”

“Naw.” She drew her hand back. “I want to keep going.” She bounced in place on the balls of her feet. “Besides, I think you deserve the chance to punch me good and hard.”

“There it is.” Sokka shook his head. “I don’t want to punch you, Toph.”

“Don’t you always want to punch me?”

“OK, fair. But you know what I’m saying. I don’t  _ actually _ want to punch you, Toph, and I wish you would stop doing this.”

“But I—”

“No, let me finish. This is about last night, don’t pretend it isn’t. Toph, you have to stop beating yourself up. What if you say something else thoughtlessly, and I want to let you know about it, but I’m afraid it’ll cause a whole day of self-flagellating?”

Toph went quiet, thinking hard. She was wearing a sleeveless workout shirt, and it had slipped down one of her shoulders. Sokka found himself staring at that shoulder, then at her collarbone. She was breathing hard.

“You’re right,” Toph said. She was glistening with sweat and intense-workout-glow.

“Hmmmm,” said Sokka.

“Sokka?” Oh, there it was, his name in her mouth. Her lips were extra red from how much she’d been biting them during the workout. “Are you OK?”

“Hmmmm?” said Sokka. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He forced his brain back into gear. He’d been telling her to stop self-flagellating...

“Well, I’m telling you you’re right.”

“Oh. Good.” 

Toph took her hair down to re-do her bun.

Sokka reflected on how nice it was that she couldn’t feel his heartbeat on the airship.

“I don’t want to make it harder for you to tell me, next time I screw up,” Toph continued. “I promise I’ll just be matter-of-fact about it from here on out.”

She was now carding her fingers through her hair. It hung loosely down her shoulders and back, dark and glistening and very long.

“Good,” said Sokka, a little breathlessly. He straightened up. “Good, I think that’s fine. And I think that’s enough training for one day. It’s almost dinner time.”

“Will you stretch with me first?”

In answer, Sokka sat down and started his own stretch routine. He was quiet, his mind wandering between images of Toph breathing hard, the one berth that waited for them (one more night…), and imaginings of what it might be like to run his own fingers through Toph’s hair like she had just done…

Stay with it, he told himself. His back was full of knots. He wished Katara were around.

Toph sat opposite him with her legs apart. “Help a girl out?”

He mirrored her position and reached his hands out. They pulled each other back and forth. Then, Toph lay down on her back. “Do you mind stretching my legs…?”

Sokka had helped others with this stretch a thousand times without thinking about it, so he didn’t think about it with Toph, either, when he caught her ankle with one hand and placed his other hand right at the hinge between her thigh and her hip, to keep it steady for a deeper stretch.

Didn’t think about it until he realized that his hand was… where it was. Mostly on the very top of her thigh.

He could feel several knots. Katara had taught him a bit of massage. What would it be like to dig his thumb into Toph’s pain points right here on her upper thigh? To follow them, to work out the knots, to elicit the kinds of gasps and murmurs massage tended to elicit…

What the FUCK? He quickly switched his mind to think of nothing. Nothing at all. Blankness. Not a thing.

He was definitely going to have trouble sleeping.

“Why are you being so quiet?” asked Toph. “What are you thinking?”

Nothing. He was thinking of literally nothing. “Um, that I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight.”

“Maybe you won’t. You did OK last night.”

“I know. I should think positively. I just have this feeling, you know? And when I get this feeling, I never sleep. Maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, but the track record is not good…”

They switched legs. Sokka determinedly thought of nothing nothing nothing.

“Does anything help you sleep?”

“Aang taught me some breathing exercises… sometimes they help, but not always.” Toph shifted under him; Sokka thought of a blank sheet of white paper.

“Is there nothing I can do to help?” asked Toph.

Sokka was thinking of absolutely noth—

Actually, wait, there was something. “Actually, there is something,” Sokka said. “It helps me if I can get into bed without pressure to fall asleep right away. So if we can talk in bed for a while, like we did last night, that will help.”

“That’s easy. Done. Do you want me to do your legs?”

Did he want her to… not a good idea. “No, but can you walk on my back?”

Toph hopped up while Sokka rolled over. She started gingerly with one foot. “Tell me if it’s too much or a bad spot... “ Gradually she added more weight. “I’m completely on you now. Is it OK?”

“It’s wonderful,” Sokka said. Toph’s feet were more sensitive than most people’s hands, and she knew how to feel her way around his back. She planted her heel in a knot in his shoulder and worked at it until it gave, then went on to the next.

“What do you want to talk about tonight, while you’re not sleeping?”

Now was as good a time as any. “How about we talk about our breakups with Satoru and Suki?”

Toph stilled. “Are you joking?”

“Do you want me to be joking?”

“Kinda, yeah.” She dug a toe into his lower back. “Why do you want to talk about that stuff?”

“Because we’re friends, Toph. Friends are supposed to talk about these things.”

She worked her way slowly down his spine. “Since when do you care what friends are  _ supposed _ to do…”

“Look, if you really don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to. I just think it would be good for us if we’re serious about… about being best friends for life. That’s good, you can get down.” Toph stepped down, and Sokka rolled over to face her. “The truth is, I’ve been worried about you. I’ve had Katara, and my dad, and my grandmother, and Aang to talk me through my breakup, but I don’t know if you have anyone who you can really talk to. Between Satoru and your parents, it sounds like things haven’t been exactly easy for you, and you… you always bottle everything up anyways. It takes prodding for you to open up, and if there’s been nobody to prod you, well, that’s because I haven’t been there for you in over a year… and now we’re here… together...”

Toph let out a breath. Her features evidenced an inner battle. Finally, she said, “Fine. Fine, we’ll talk about Satoru and Suki tonight.”

“Only if you want to, Toph…”

“I don’t want to. I’d rather eat nails. But you’re right. I haven’t talked to anyone about it, and… just… you’re right.” She gnawed on a nail.

“You can change your mind, you know, if it’s really that painful.”

“Naw.” Toph straightened up with a determined jerk of her head. “You’re on. And I’m gonna cream you at this, Katakka.”

“You’re gonna cream me?”

“You bet your ass. I’m gonna tell you ev-er-y-thing about Satoru and me. You’ll see, I’m gonna kick ass at this. Like I do at everything.”

Sokka laughed. Only Toph would turn a talk about breakups into a competition.

“You laugh, but I’m gonna open up like a scroll that wasn’t rolled properly. I’m gonna bare my soul and show you my heart and you are DEFINITELY going to cry. But right now I am gross, and I am hungry. I need to wash up, and eat, and so do you.”

“Onward, then,” said Sokka.

“To the showers!” Toph cried, and raced for the door.

“You’re gonna cry before I do,” Sokka tossed out, running after her.

“Ha! I don’t even have tear ducts.”

Sokka faltered. Was that true? Had he just said something thoughtless and cruel? “Toph—stop, wait, I’m sor—”

It occurred to him that he’d seen Toph cry many times. Idiot.

Toph knocked his arm with her shoulder. “Gotcha.”

Then she raced off. Sokka followed close behind, with vengeance on his mind and warm anticipation in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter there will be both deep conversations and fun times in the 1 bed. I promise. :-D


	16. 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter one.
> 
> I still don't own anything.

Sleep clothes were on, teeth were brushed, and they were in the one bed, but the conversation still loomed.

Since they weren’t even trying to sleep yet, Sokka had propped himself in the corner of the berth, his back to the wall. Toph sat cross-legged next to him.

Well. She’d agreed to this, and she never went back on an agreement. “So,” she said. “Do you want to tell me about Suki, or do you want to hear about Satoru first?”

“Tell me about Satoru,” he said softly.

Toph took a moment before she spoke. Opening up was always an active effort. With Katara, it had been a strategic thing, and she’d felt more in control. With Sokka, there was no motive other than… it was Sokka. The one person she ever opened up to.

“I was always _Toph Beifong_ to him,” she started, haltingly. “He started with this idea of me in his head, and even when we got to know each other really well, he never got past it. His idea of me, it was never just… me.”

“What’s an example of that?”

“He thought of me as this great hero of the war. So he put a lot of stock in everything I said and did. Every little criticism I gave was a huge deal to him, and earning my praise was his biggest joy in life. And for a while, I loved it,” she admitted. “It felt really good to be taken so seriously, and to have my opinion valued so highly. But it didn’t last. He would get so upset, whenever I said anything even a little bit negative or critical. And you know me,” she said with a soft laugh. “I’m not exactly Miss Positive Encouragement.”

“Well, you don’t go out of your way to criticize, either,” said Sokka.

“What? Have we met? Yes, I do.”

“Not in a serious way.”

“But as a joke? All the time.”

“True.”

“And I started to second-guess every joke. I would stop myself from saying things because I knew he’d get upset. But it meant I had to be a little less… me. And that’s when I started to get unhappy, and that’s when he started to get unhappy.”

“If I remember right, you were broken up the last time I saw you.”

“Yes, when you came to visit, we’d just broken up. He had started doing this thing that…” Toph put her head in her hands. “This sounds so awful.”

Sokka’s arm came around her shoulders now. She’d been hoping he’d do that. “Hey, it’s just me,” he said. “You and me. We don’t judge.”

Toph leaned against him. “He was complimenting me too much. I’m awful, I know. It’s a totally bizarre thing to get upset about. But it was out of some sort of… I don’t know, insecurity on his part. He was just looking to get a ‘thank you’ and some sort of equivalent praise out of me, so he’d heap these compliments on me. And I _hated_ it.”

Sokka laughed, but it wasn’t a mean laugh. “I can picture you hating that.”

“Seriously. He once complimented me on how I poured water.”

“Well, you _are_ exceptionally good at that…”

She wiggled and punched him lightly. “Don’t you dare start.”

“Don’t worry.” He tucked her back under his arm. “You don’t have to worry about excessive praise from me.”

“That’s what I love about you,” Toph said, then froze. _Shit._

He skated right over it like it hadn’t been said. “Did you break up with him, or the other way around?”

Toph exhaled, simultaneously a breath of relief and sorrow that he’d ignored it. “I broke up with him. And believe me, that was FUN.” She laughed shortly and deepened her voice. “‘But why, Toph, why are you ending this?’ ‘Uh, because you praise me too much.’ Yeah, that breakup was a treat. I wish I could have one like it every year.”

Sokka laughed. “But Katara told me, later on, that you got back together.”

“Yeah.” That was after Sokka had left, to go back to his perfect life with Suki. Or, what she’d thought was his perfect life with Suki… “Yeah. I was just, I don’t know, lonely, and kind of depressed. It was a mistake.”

“How’d it end that time?”

“Well. I’ll tell you. He proposed, a few weeks after we’d gotten back together, and I said no.”

“Really.” Sokka didn’t sound surprised, actually.

She twisted towards him. “Wait, Snoozles, did you already know this?”

Sokka said nothing.

“How…?”

Sokka sucked a breath in through his teeth. “You can’t tell Katara I’m telling you this, OK? Remember when she went to see you? A few months after I did?”

“Yes…”

“Satoru told her he was planning to propose. He showed her the ring he’d bought.”

“No way.” Toph exhaled. Katara. That girl… “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“I guess before, she didn’t say anything because she thought you might say yes, and she didn’t want to ruin the surprise. And after, she didn’t…”

“She didn’t want to bring it up at all, because I didn’t want to talk about it.” Toph blew out a woosh of air. “That girl.”

“How did you deal with the breakup? You said you were depressed, at one point?”

“Yeah, that was…” Toph thought quickly. She couldn’t share the real reason she’d fallen into that funk. “That was after the first breakup. We’d been together for so long, it was just a shock to my system to be alone.” That was vaguely true. “When we got back together, I remembered all the reasons I’d broken it off. So the second breakup was nothing but a relief for me.”

“And he’s married now?”

“Yup. From what I hear, they’re really happy, and I’m glad for that. He always wanted to get married. He just needed to stop trying to marry me.”

“And your parents? What’s the status on them?”

Toph went quiet and felt herself curl inward, get stiffer. This was harder than talking about Satoru.

Sokka’s fingers came up and rubbed her neck. She felt tears start in her eyes.

“Toph,” Sokka said, “I don’t want to make you cry…”

“No,” she sniffed. “It’s OK. I have to open up like a scroll, remember? That’s what I promised.”

“A scroll that wasn’t rolled properly,” Sokka reminded her, and Toph turned her head and laugh-cried into his shoulder.

“You already cried first, so, you lose," Sokka said. " _Loser_.” She laugh-cried harder.

Briefly, she told him what she’d told Katara: The horrible, bigoted things they’d said about Satoru upon learning his mother was Tarim, and the hateful, hurtful things they’d said about any children they’d have. She felt Sokka’s heart rate rise in anger.

“But the truth is,” Toph said, “I said some horrible things too. I told them…” she broke off, mouth open, unable to form the words.

Then she burst into tears. Real tears. Ugly tears. “I can’t say what I said to them, it’s too bad to say it out loud,” she choked out.

Sokka’s thumbs came to her cheeks and blotted her tears. “Have you told anyone else what you said to them?”

“No.”

“So right now only you and they know?”

“Yes.”

“So the question you’re asking yourself right now is, do you want to add me to that number? Just me, I promise.”

“I know—I just—this is hard, Sokka, the things I said, they were… they were… do you really think it would help me to tell you?”

“You don’t have to. But right now you’re walking around carrying this all by yourself.”

“I can’t understand why it’s so hard… They said horrible things, so I said horrible things, it was all very painful. It’s the kind of thing some people love to talk about, I’ve had friends who have a fight and then want to re-hash every word that was said over and over again.”

Sokka shifted them so she was further in his arms. “Some people want to savor the pain. You’re not one of them.” She could feel his voice vibrate in his chest.

She took a deep breath. “I swore at them a lot. A lot. I told them they would never meet any of their grandchildren, ever, so never ask to meet them, and they’d be lucky if I ever spoke to them again. I could tell they were scared… my mom couldn’t believe I’d sworn so much, I’ve never spoken like that around her. She was genuinely terrified, I could feel her heart racing. My dad tried to walk back what they’d said. He said of course they’d love their grandchildren no matter what, they would just have to work a little harder on that if they were part Tarim, but they’d still find a way to love them for who they are.”

She paused. Reading her mind, Sokka handed her his waterskin. She gulped, then continued. “I told them, ‘you couldn’t even love _me_ for who I am, and I’m Huang!’ and then I stook up as tall and dramatic as I could and told them to get the fuck out of my house. Then I remembered I was visiting them at their house, so I left.” Sokka couldn’t stop a laugh. “Yeah, it was tragicomedy at its finest.”

“Was that the last time you talked to them?”

“Yes. I got a letter from them a few months later. I haven’t answered it.”

“Good.” There was an unusually hard edge to Sokka’s voice.

“Good?” Toph tilted her head up. “You’re not going to tell me I should be trying to get along with them?”

“No… they’re horrible bigots, and they need to go down.”

Toph wanted to laugh, but it felt strange.

“I don’t know. Maybe people can change. Maybe this will actually shake some sense into them. But it’s not your job to help them change and grow, it’s your job to take care of yourself, and… and any children who come along.” Toph felt herself blush. “I know, it’s a long way off to even think about that. But it’s their turn to stretch and grow and learn to really love you. And your kids. Not the other way around.”

“I keep thinking about how they treated me, when I was a kid. I’m blind, so to them, that meant I was weak. Less than. They pretended it was about protecting me, but I wonder…? I’ve met a few people who knew my parents and never even knew they had a daughter.” She felt Sokka swallow hard. “I think they were hiding me. I think they were ashamed of having a disabled daughter.”

Sokka said nothing.

“And I’ll be damned if I let them be ashamed of their grandkids. They will never know them.”

She let out a trembling breath and turned back towards Sokka. He was shaking, just a tiny bit. “You OK, Sokka? What are you thinking?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” His voice was slightly choked; he sounded like he was tearing up. “I’m thinking… I’m thinking about how brave you are, Toph. And how proud I am to know you.”

Time was doing that thing it did sometimes. Standing still. Every cell of her body was suddenly on fire. They were sitting so, so close. His exhales were her inhales.

Out of nowhere, the ship gave a violent, sudden lurch. Sokka’s collarbone slammed into her jaw. “Sorry!” he yelped. “You OK?”

“Fine… what the hell…?” The ship rocked again.

Sokka seized both of her shoulders. “We must’ve hit an air pocket…”

Toph felt for something to grip along the edge of the bed and came up with nothing. “I HATE flying,” she announced. “And THIS is why. THIS is why I HATE flying.”

They both braced for the next lurch, but nothing happened. Slowly, Sokka relaxed his grip on Toph’s shoulders. He tentatively shifted towards the edge of the bed. “I’m going to go see if I can learn anything…” He put his feet down and slowly started to stand. “Maybe we’re on the edge of a storm, that would be exci...”

The biggest lurch yet slammed them sideways. Toph heard Sokka fall to the floor. She made a desperate grab for something, anything, but her fist caught only the bedsheet. She tumbled off the bed and right on top of Sokka.

“Shit! Oh, God, Sokka, I’m so sorry!” Had she knocked the wind out of him? Or worse? She tried to find the floor with her knee, with her foot, wanting to get her weight off of him. “Are you OK? Stay still.” She couldn’t find purchase.

“I’m OK, Toph, I’m OK.”

She tried to stand, but her foot slipped and she fell again, her chin colliding with his chest.

“Sorry! Sorry!”

“It’s OK… just stop… stop… wiggling.” His hands came to her hips, and in what felt like an automatic motion, he shifted her to a more comfortable position on top of him. She caught her breath and found her balance.

His hands relaxed, but didn’t leave her hips. Toph bit down on her lip so hard it hurt.

Slowly and carefully, Sokka sat up. She was now just… sitting in his lap, gripping his upper arms. Neither of them moved. Toph couldn’t remember how to breathe; how was she supposed to move?

Then there came a pounding at the door. “Everyone OK in there?” a voice hollered.

Hastily, Sokka hoisted her off of him. They stood, brushing themselves off, and Sokka went to open the door. “Everything’s perfectly all right,” he told the very nice crew member.

“You sure?”

“We’re fine.” Flustered, Sokka turned to Toph for confirmation.

“We’re all fine here, now,” Toph agreed. She was flustered too, apparently.

“Thank you,” Sokka added. He looked back and forth between Toph and the nice young man in the door. For once in his life, he seemed at a loss for words.

“How are you?” Toph supplied, then felt like an idiot.

“We’ve hit an unexpected storm system. The Captain is taking evasive measures, but the bumps may continue. Do you know there’s netting you can attach to the bed so that you won’t fall out?”

That would have been good to know _before_ the storm, Toph thought, but she didn’t say anything as they set up the net. It attached to the side and top of the bed, forming a hammock that would prevent them from tumbling to the floor again.

When they were alone, back in bed, and the ship had settled into a slight rocking motion, Toph turned to Sokka. “Your turn. Time to tell me about Suki.” She felt a need to ignore the overwhelming-ness of what had just happened… to pretend it hadn’t taken her breath away.

“Um. Yeah. There’s less of a… story, there.” He sighed. “I just fell out of love.”

Toph didn’t know what to say to that. She knew the only socially acceptable response was some form of “I’m so sorry,” but she wasn’t. And she didn’t know if she could actually lie to Sokka.

Fortunately, he kept talking. “The truth is, I don’t know if I was ever really in love with her. I mean, would I have ever noticed her if she hadn’t been so cool? And such an amazing fighter? And... let’s face it, she’s hot. But in terms of personality…? I’m a huge nerd, and she’s very much not, and my sense of humor doesn’t exactly dovetail with hers, you know what I mean?”

“To be perfectly honest, I never observed much of a sense of humor from Suki,” said Toph. _Unlike me,_ she added in her head.

“No, I guess not,” Sokka said. “I tried to teach her to speak Sarcasm, but… square peg, round hole.”

“So you just… stopped being into it? How did you end things?”

“All this didn’t happen overnight. But I woke up one morning and realized that I couldn’t pretend any longer. It was too exhausting. I was trying to pretend she was someone she wasn’t, and then manage my disappointment, when she wasn’t, over and over again, and keep her from finding out every time I was disappointed. So, I…” he sighed. “I sat down at the breakfast table and said, “We need to talk.” He actually winced, remembering. “It was... rough. To her, it felt like it came out of nowhere. She was in so much pain, and I knew I was causing it…”

“I’m so sorry, Sokka,” Toph said. Now it was true. The ship rocked; she gripped the netting to stay steady.

“The worst part, I think, was that she tried to make it as easy as possible for me to leave. No begging me to stay, no asking me what she could have done differently. She offered to help me pack, and when I told her I’d just feel guilty if she helped, she said OK and left me alone. The only reason I knew she was actually hurting is that I went to get something out of the cellar, and I heard her crying in the back yard behind a tree. She was absolutely sobbing. I’ve never heard her cry like that…” he broke off.

Toph felt absolutely sick. A deep sense of shame washed over her. How could she have spoken about Suki the way she had, thought about her the way she did? She’d always wanted to believe Suki was slightly wooden, and blame her for the fact that Sokka wasn’t in love with her, Toph. Even when Suki had kept it a secret that Toph had kissed her cheek thinking she was Sokka, Toph had clung to her resentment; Suki was so confident of Sokka’s affections that she was performing the role of “bigger person.” It was just another way of rubbing it in. Or so she told herself.

But the truth was, Suki had never been anything but deeply kind to Toph, and all of her juvenile resentments disgusted her now.

“You broke her heart,” Toph said softly. “Oh, Sokka, I’m so sorry. For you, and even more for Suki.”

Sokka cleared his throat. “That’s the right way to feel.”

The ship rocked again, another violent lurch. Toph gripped the netting and slapped her hand against the wall to prevent herself from slamming into Sokka. He braced himself too.

“All good?” she asked.

“Yes… so far…”

She settled back down and stifled a yawn. Fatigue was starting to set in, but she didn’t want Sokka to notice. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from snuggling a little further down into the blankets. Sokka would probably just let her drift off, if she started to… she should really try to stay awake a little longer...

She started to drift off, then caught herself. She should at least wrap up the Suki conversation and say goodnight...

Then the bed broke.

The wooden slats beneath their very thin mattress cracked and caved in, and they fell. This time Toph hit the ground first—her fall thankfully cushioned by the mattress—and Sokka landed on top of her.

There was a long silence.

“Well,” Sokka said. He’d managed to brace all four limbs against the sides of the collapsed bed, preventing himself from completely crushing Toph. “I guess these beds really aren’t made for two.” He started to pick himself up. “Toph? You OK?”

“Yup. Yup. Just adjusting to our new reality.”

With a slight hop, Sokka hoisted himself over the side of the bed, then pulled Toph up. She stood, brushing herself off yet again, while Sokka surveyed the damage.

He tried, not very hard, to repair things. It didn’t work.

“Toph,” he finally said, “I’m not going to sleep. It’s just not going to happen, tonight. And now there’s really only room for one on the floor, and that’s you. You sleep, I’ll go bother the crew and see if I can be of use to them during this storm.”

In truth, sleep was starting to overtake Toph; even her hands and feet felt heavy. She was sure Sokka could see this, so she didn’t argue.

“When you do eventually get tired, come back and don’t worry about waking me up, OK?” she said. “Just… find a way to fit yourself in, you know I sleep like the dead.”

He agreed without protest.

***

When she woke up, Sokka was holding her. Tight. She had no memory of him coming back during the night, nor of tangling their limbs together… but there they were, her chest to his back, her head on his arm. Definitely cutting off his circulation. And yet, he was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “...and they need to go down.” I feel certain you all know what this is a nod to.
> 
> “Everything’s perfectly all right… we’re fine… we’re all fine here, now, thank you, how are you?” If you don’t know where this is from, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.
> 
> Next chapter will actually have some (gasp) plot. I think.


	17. 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter was super super hard... maybe because there's so much Plot? I can only take them sobbing and crying about their feelings for so long, but the sob sob cry cry chapters are a lot easier for me to write. Anyways, I don't own them.

Sokka kinda-sorta-halfway woke up a few times before Toph woke him for real.

He’d worked with the crew, helping them repair engine equipment, until he was dead on his feet and they’d sent him away. He’d then slumped into the collapsed bed with Toph and passed out.

When he quasi-woke up the first time, she was still asleep, nestled in his arms, her hair tickling his nose. One of her hands was threaded through his, holding his arm tight around her.

When next he saw her, she was hovering over him, an empty water cup in her hand, and he was sputtering. “Glah!!!!” he’d coughed. “What the—arck!!!”

“Sorry, Snoozlekins,” she’d said, not sounding sorry at all. “Shaking and yelling weren’t doing the trick. We gotta go.”

Now they were seated in front of the Earth King and it was all Sokka could do to stay awake. He never knew which was worse—the mind-fucking, nausea-inducing feeling of not being able to fall asleep, or the absolutely dead feeling that inevitably followed the next day.

Plus, flashes of last night kept replaying in his mind. Images and feelings, crowding out and shouting down the few rational thoughts he was mustering. Making it impossible to concentrate.

“I received a messenger hawk from Avatar Aang and Lady Katara this morning,” Earth King Kuei was saying. Sokka smiled when he heard Toph bite back a scoff at “Lady Katara.” “They were right to verify my message’s veracity,” the King continued. “I will write back to them right after we meet to let them know the result of our conversation. I should warn you: I think it likely the Lon Nol will refuse to negotiate with anyone other than the Avatar himself. In fact, Ms. Beifong, you shouldn’t be surprised if they refuse to speak to you at all, because of your being Huang.”

Toph said nothing. How unusual, Sokka thought.

“But, I respect Avatar Aang’s decision to send you as his representatives,” Earth King Kuei added hastily.

Earth King Kuei was too much of a mouthful—it should be shortened to EKK, thought Sokka. Ekk. He almost laughed out loud. He couldn’t wait to get this meeting done with and tell Toph the King’s new nickname.

He gave his head a little shake. Stay with it.

“I thought it would be useful to give you a full briefing on the history of Saipan before you go,” Ekk said.

Do we have to, Sokka thought?

“That way, you can show you are knowledgeable about their culture and values, and their history as part of the Earth Kingdom, when you begin negotiations.”

Yes, he thought, they had to.

“Yes, we’d very much like to hear this,” Toph said. She had been remarkably—almost unrecognizably—professional the whole meeting. Sokka wondered how long it would last.

Ekk summoned two historians, introduced as Qui and Cheng Li, who brought in a map. Sokka quickly described it to Toph: A small island, off the east coast of the Earth Kingdom. “I knew that much,” Toph whispered.

“Just keeping you up to speed.” He elbowed her.

“Saipan has been a part of the Earth Kingdom as long as the Earth Kingdom has existed,” Cheng Li said. She had a soft but self-assured voice.

“Would the Saipanese people say the same, if we asked them?” Toph asked.

“That would depend on whom you asked. The Lon Nol would surely not. But that does not make their version of history correct,” Cheng Li said.

“And what makes your version the correct one?” Toph pressed. She was trying hard, Sokka could tell, to keep her voice inquisitive rather than aggressive.

God, she was beautiful.

“Thousands of ancient documents documenting the early connection, and a history of trade that evidences close ties,” Qui answered. He was more blunt-spoken. He droned on for a while about the nature of the documents and the goods that were traded, and then Cheng Li continued, giving a history of the Saipanese culture and religion and the gifts from various Earth Kings that were displayed in dozens of their temples… the room was warm, and his chair was cushioned… a little too cushioned...

Toph kicked him under the table before he really started nodding off. Wow. She must have felt his heart rate slow, even though his shoes were only pressing lightly against the stone floor.

God, she was incredible.

“Of course, their devotion to their religion has also hindered them… much as we respect their cultural achievements, we cannot deny that it has also, in some ways, poisoned them.”

“How?” asked Sokka.

“They have made no use of their natural resources at all,” Cheng Li answered. Her quiet voice was starting to bother Sokka. He had to strain to hear her. “They cling to their relationship with the land tightly, and look upon any sort of modernization as a violation of that relationship. Until recently, they’ve had almost no modes of transportation other than horses, canoes, small sailboats, and their own feet. Their local government has long been a theocracy, so there is no separation of church and state; their religious leaders are also their political leaders.”

“They have no bending tradition,” Qui continued, “so they’ve never invented bending-based travel or other bending-based improvements. Until ten years ago, they spoke only a Saipanese dialect; the central government sent a taskforce to teach the Common Tongue on Saipan, and now everyone speaks it. Until ten years ago, jobs were limited to farming, fishing, a few artisans, some school teachers, and becoming a monk or a nun. We have introduced multiple jobs programs that the youth of Senpai have eagerly signed up for; they are learning skills in laboratories and factories that will help them get jobs on the mainland, should they ever wish to leave.”

“You keep saying everything was bad up until ten years ago,” Sokka said.

“Did things change because the war ended?” Toph finished his question.

“They did indeed, but not in the way you might suspect,” Ekk answered. “Saipan was never a major target for the Fire Nation, and they mostly left it alone. Rather, the Earth Kingdom government and military was stretched so thin that we could provide almost no resources to them, or support them to make use of their own resources, until ten years ago, when the war blessedly ended. Once it did, we once more made Saipan a priority, and that’s when their quality of life started to improve so dramatically.”

“What exactly did you do to provide support, after the war ended?” Toph probed.

“During the war, their access to medical supplies was cut drastically,” Cheng Li said in that annoyingly soft voice. “We sent several tons of supplies, and we also sent manpower. We sent task forces that built two functional hospitals in 30 days, which they desperately needed. We bought huge quantities of the rice and barley they produce, at a very high price, to inject life into their local economy. We also provided a variety of seeds to help them diversify their crops. Squashes, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cabbages...” 

Sokka felt himself drifting off again. He took a huge breath and stifled a yawn. Cheng Li was still listing vegetables.

His inner monologue turned back to Toph, for the hundredth time. Toph. She’d never really known love from her parents, yet she’d still turned out so loving, so giving, with such a strong moral compass… he had almost felt his heart breaking the night before, when she talked about her parents being ashamed of her… she was pure gold, she was so deserving of love, and he was so desperate to love her it was physically painful.

And he wasn’t sure if he was ready to give up on loving her.

That thought was new, and it surprised him. It felt a little dangerous, to think that way. Maybe it was just the lack-of-sleep hangover. Katara’s voice in his head shouted at him to stop it before he got hurt. Maybe he should.

Or maybe he should go all in…

“...and we also annexed their copper reserves, so we’ve built a series of mines, as well as a dam in the Mekong River, which provides—”

Sokka’s head snapped up, suddenly very awake. “Wait—you did what???”

“We did install a series of copper mines, as well as a dam,” Cheng Li said, softly and slowly. “They’ve been a tremendous asset to all.”

“You said you annexed their copper,” Sokka said. “Who owns the mines? Who profits from it? What have been the environmental impacts?”

“Which question should I answer first?” Cheng Li asked. Her quiet voice was now infuriating.

“Private companies, contracted by the central government, own the mines,” Qui forcefully. “But Saipan has benefited vastly from the mines. Our companies employ thousands, and have allowed them to develop parts of the island that were completely neglected…”

“Plus,” the Earth King said, his voice slightly testy, “They were making no use of their copper reserves before we set up the mines. It was just lying there, underground, a completely untapped resource. If we hadn’t set up the mines, it would still be lying there, useless.”

“If Saipan is so thoroughly part of the Earth Kingdom,” Toph said in an icy voice, “why are you using so much ‘us’ and ‘them’ language?”

There was a long, testy silence.

“By ‘us’ I meant the central government,” the King answered, his voice a mix of angry and defensive. “I certainly hope you’re not implying that there’s any Huang chauvinism at play here, Miss Beifong.”

Toph took a sip of her tea. Sokka could have kissed her. For several reasons.

“Everything we’ve done has benefited the Saipanese people more than anyone,” King Kuei continued. “Would you like to see proof? I have all the numbers here…” he started to unfurl one of several enormous scrolls.

“No, no, I believe that those papers will confirm what you say,” Toph said, crossing her arms.

“But we both have more questions,” Sokka added, crossing his.

The double doors opened. Sokka recognized King Kuei’s personal chef. “Lunch is ready,” he said. “Would you like it served in here so you can keep working?”

“Yes, thank you, Zhang Wei,” the King said. Then, to Toph and Sokka, “why don’t we take a breather before we eat?”

“Good idea,” Toph said. As they all stood up, she seized Sokka’s arm and brought him out to the balcony. “Can anyone hear us?” she hissed.

He checked behind them; Cheng Li and Qui were speaking quietly at the opposite end of the room, and Ekk and his chef were focused on setting up lunch. “We’re good.” He looked back at Toph. She was gnawing on a thumbnail. Her eyes… he could never decide what exact shade of green her eyes were. Today, the thought popped into his head that they were the same green as a cup of Iroh’s most magically delicious jasmine tea. They wouldn’t see Iroh today, alas; Iroh was away, visiting Zuko.

Whoops. Toph had been speaking, and he’d missed it. His brain really wasn’t functioning. “I’m sorry, Toph, the lack of sleep from last night is just killing me. Can you start over?”

“I just want to review our goals,” she said. “We’re super suspicious about how they’ve actually been treating Saipan, and we’re showing it. Do we need to dial it back?”

“So that they don’t dial back our involvement? Yeah, probably. I do want to ask him about the PCC, though.”

“You don’t want to just wait and see what they’re doing when we get to Saipan?”

“I want to get his official version of what they’re doing, so we can compare and contrast when we see for ourselves.”

“If they let us see the real thing at all…"

They went back to the table. Trays of fish dumplings, pickled wood ear, and a barbecued rabbit pig adorned the table. A segment of the tabletop had been shifted to reveal a hotpot, and a rich broth was bubbling, with dozens of meats and vegetables ready to add.

Sokka felt his mood lift immediately. Then, Zhang Wei brought in the crown jewel: Roasted turtleduck, ready to be loaded into paper-thin crepes with spring onions and sweet plum sauce. Sokka couldn’t help himself; he started clapping. Zhang Wei tipped his cap to Sokka, winked, and left.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” Sokka said as he loaded his plate a mile high, “I never eat as well as when I’m in your presence, King Kuei.” He took a bite of turtleduck. “Several places come close… sometimes I tell Zuko his meals are just as good as yours…” he closed his eyes in bliss as he chewed. “But it’s all lies.” There. That should go some ways towards smoothing the ruffled emotions. Ekk did look pleased, watching Sokka eat. “Toph, what do you want in the hotpot?”

She answered with a mouth full of fish dumpling. “Is there stomach?”

“Yup.” Sokka dropped it in.

“Gizzards?” He added them. “Fish heads? Turtleduck tongue?” He added both. “Anything else look particularly good?”

“I’ll add some kelp and bamboo...”

The Earth King sipped his soup and watched them with a bemused smile. “Can we back up and review a bit, before we go on?” he asked.

“Good idea,” said Toph, now gnawing on a rabbit pig bone.

“I just want to remind you,” Ekk said slowly and carefully, “that the reason we’re all here today is that the Lon Nol have launched violent attacks against innocent civilians. Farms, schools, and we confirmed they attacked a hospital. We believe that their next attack will target civilians here on the mainland. They are a guerilla separatist force who has now turned to terrorism.”

Sokka swallowed. This was worth remembering. Attacks on civilians, whatever the circumstances, were unacceptable.

“I don’t believe I’ve told you about their leader. Nobody knows exactly where he came from, or when he came to Saipan, but he is not an Islander, this much we know. He calls himself… what is it.... Chen Quanguo.”

“Chen Quanguo.” Toph repeated it while assembling herself a turtleduck pancake.

“I think his followers just call him Chen. Or perhaps he has adopted some other title… they worship him like a god. Things changed when he arrived. The violence became much more extreme, and much more frequent. If he had never arrived, I think it’s possible that they would never have targeted civilians.”

Sokka was still wary, but wanted to choose his words carefully. “What reasons might the Lon Nol have to follow such a man?”

“There were no reasons,” the King said. He set his mug down with some force. “Chen has fomented a populist uprising for no reason at all. The idea of Saipan seceding from the Earth Kingdom is ridiculous, and there was no support for the idea to speak of, but he is the type of man who can whip up a fever in a population. Everything they do is about provoking some sort of reaction from the central government.”

“You make them sound like misbehaving children,” Toph said.

“In many ways, they are,” the King replied. Before either Toph or Sokka could object, he continued, “No, no, I intend no Huang chauvinism. I merely mean that this one element is childish—they keep escalating their attacks because we won’t respond to violence.”

Sokka glanced at Toph. Her poker face was solid, meaning she was actively working to keep her emotions at bay. “What about the PCC?” she asked.

“What about them?” Qui saw fit to re-enter the conversation at this point.

“They’re a new organization, and I know nothing about them,” Toph said, thoughtfully chewing a bite of wood ear. “I’m wondering what their presence is like on the island, and how they’ve been received.”

“Their presence has been strictly as peacekeepers, and the citizens of Saipan are glad and grateful they are there,” Cheng Li said in that soft, cloying voice. There was a brief silence.

“Uh, right, OK then,” said Toph.

“Give them the list of all the ways Saipan has benefited from our work there,” Ekk said testily.

Qui and Cheng Li launched into a litany of bullet points that they clearly had recited over and over. Roads seemed to be a running theme… roads had been added, roads had been improved, roads had revolutionized life on the island… the hot pot was starting to smell really, really good...

“Soup’s ready,” Sokka said, reaching for two bowls, then realized he’d cut Qui off in the middle of a sentence. “Oh, sorry,” he said, except, not really. He ladled Toph a bowl, then himself.

“What was Saipan like before the war with the Fire Nation?” Toph asked, blowing on a spoonful of soup.

“You mean over a hundred years ago?” She nodded. “Completely backwards. It was a feudal society that still relied on serfdom,” Qui said.

“Serfs? Really?” said Sokka, genuinely startled.

“Yes… if you have time, ask them to take you to see the palaces,” Qui answered. “Each family in Saipan had to send one man to work on them, in exchange for nothing, for a quarter of the year. If they failed to do so, they stood to lose their housing.”

Wow. Serfdom… slavery, essentially, so recently? He glanced at Toph again. Her poker face was slipping; she was clearly unsettled as well.

“That was when ties were not as strong between Saipan and the central government,” Cheng Li said. “Things have improved since we re-established a strong connection. The serfs have been liberated.”

Sokka wanted to believe this. Truly, he did. Maybe the central government was in the right. Maybe there was no reason to doubt King Kuei’s word. Maybe they could just go to Saipan as advocates for the central government. That would be so much simpler, so much more clear cut…

Toph, he suspected, was thinking something similar. She was chewing on her lip, worrying it so much that Sokka was surprised it wasn’t bleeding. He resisted the urge to reach forward and run his thumb along her lip, to trace it with his fingers and whisper to her to stop biting it, to take it into his own mouth…

“Sokka? Sokka. Sokka!” Earth King Kuei was waving at him. Crap.

“Sorry, what? Sorry,” Sokka said hastily.

Ekk smiled at him a little too knowingly. Shit, even he could tell? The most socially clueless person he’d ever met…

Sokka straightened up, clinging to his last shred of dignity. “What are you hoping to accomplish in Saipan, with our help?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Ekk gestured to Qui and Cheng Li, a “take it away” motion.

“We want to establish a formalized agreement between their local government and the central government here,” Cheng Li said. Her voice was, if possible, getting softer. “Largely our asks are mere simplifications of things that are already law. But an official treaty will help put an end to the pretense that the Lon Nol has any legal standing at all.”

“And what are your asks?”

“There are three points,” Cheng Li continued. Sokka leaned forward so he wouldn’t miss anything that she whispered. “First, the Lon Nol must, like the vast majority of Saipanese citizens, accept that Saipan is a part of the Earth Kingdom.”

She paused, as if to invite questions. Sokka could think of none.

“Second, all of Saipan’s defenses must be conducted by the Earth Kingdom.”

“Do they have any official defenses that aren’t Earth Kingdom? Not counting the Lon Nol?” Toph asked.

“None to speak of,” Cheng Li answered.

What was the point of this demand, then…? To provide a legal means by which to disarm the Lon Nol…?

“And finally,” Cheng Li said, “all Saipanese political and trade matters must be conducted through the Earth Kingdom.”

How was this different than point #1…? Probably to eliminate the chance at legal loopholes…

“You said that these things are already law, these are just clarifications? What laws do exist?” Toph asked.

“Last year, Saipan sent a taskforce of five government representatives to meet with us,” Ekk said. “It went remarkably well. We hammered out 17 points of agreement, which in retrospect was too many, since they have not been able to communicate them to the Lon Nol in an effective way. That’s why we’ve limited ourselves to 3 points this time.”

“We don’t expect that the 3 point agreement will magically quell the Lon Nol,” Qui said, “but we hope that if we can get these hammered out and publicized, it will take some of the wind out of their sails.”

This made sense. More and more of what they were saying made sense. Sokka wasn’t sure if it was because he was so sleepy, and the food was making it worse… or if they were just making sense. He would have to ask Toph later.

“I think we’re almost done here,” Ekk said, standing. “Unless you weren’t done with lunch…?” he said hurriedly.

Sokka and Toph both gulped a few more bite and showered a few more praises upon the food. Ekk promised to have the leftovers boxed up for them.

“Today, my people will escort you to my palace on the Eastern shore; it’s the easiest place to spend the night because the next day, you’ll take the boat straight from its harbor to Saipan. I’m so glad you’ll be part of the team I’m sending.”

“Just to be clear,” Toph said, “We’ve been sent by the Avatar.”

“Yes, of course. Sent by the Avatar to work with my team, not as part of my team. Sorry for misspeaking.”

That still didn’t quite...

“We were sent by the Avatar to go to Saipan and work towards peace, whatever that may look like,” said Sokka.

“Well, my interests are aligned with yours: We both want peace.”

They let it drop there.

*****

Now that it was nighttime, Sokka was awake, of course.

This was the worst part. When he lost a night’s sleep, he slept into the day. Then it took him forever to wake up. Then, when he was finally awake, it was bedtime. And the pressure to sleep was upon him.

He was awake, but not in an energized, acute way. He was like a loaded spring. Wide-eyed and wired. And extremely anxious about sleeping. He couldn’t afford to go into this mission with a significant sleep deficit; the situation was too serious.

They met the Earth King’s diplomatic team — the ones who would be shuttling them around. There were three of them. Sokka couldn’t even learn their names. He let Toph do the talking. All he could think was that Toph’s lower lip was absolutely fascinating and he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

“I’ve been here before,” Toph cut into his thoughts as they strolled through the outdoor corridor to their suite. “I didn’t realize it until we got here.”

“When were you here? Why?”

“I came as a kid with my parents, they were very important guests at some very important event… I spent the whole time giving the guards the slip and poking around the grounds. So I happen to know that there’s a swimming hole not far from here.”

“Really.” Sokka felt a grin fight its way onto his face. “Really,” he repeated.

She was quiet. He was quiet. He thought he knew where this was going, but she would have to suggest it.

“So,” she finally announced. “You’re going to take me for a swimming lesson.”

His grin stretched and grew. “Are you sure about that, Earthworm?”

She sighed. “Yes, Katakka, I’m sure.”

“Because the last time I gave you a swimming lesson…”

“I remember!” she snapped.

“OK, OK,” he laughed. “You’re the one who asked for a lesson… I live to please…”

“Shut up.” But she was smiling.

It was clear, though Toph would never have admitted it, that she was doing this for him. She hated swimming lessons. But he wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon, he needed to relax, get his mind off everything… and she knew it.

Because she knew him inside and out.

Last night, when she’d fallen out of bed and landed on top of him, had almost killed him. Not because of the fall, but because it stabbed him in the heart, for the millionth time. What had he been thinking, with this trip? Katara was right. He was just drawing out the pain, savoring the ache every time his heart broke.

Unless he went for it. Then, just maybe, it would all be worth it.

Sokka leaned against the doorframe, waiting while Toph got ready. She’d said no. While crying, he reminded himself. Never again would he make her cry like that, he swore…

But he couldn’t deny his feelings anymore. And he realized, while listening to Toph stomp around and curse herself for not packing a swim top, that there was a third option. To love her without expecting any reciprocation.

The thought steadied him. When she emerged, still grumbling, and his feelings surged, he didn’t try to bat them away or snuff them out. He just resolved to love and care for her in every way he could, no matter what.

Starting with this nighttime swimming lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I mean, what's a Tokka fic without a swimming lesson? You knew it was coming.
> 
> I did not author the 3 points that the central government is asking for from Saipan… full credit for those goes to Chairman Mao (so blame him when things go wrong).
> 
> Sorry about the roast turtleduck. I'll confess that the first time I saw one of those adorable little precious baby things, I thought "that would be delicious."
> 
> I shall warn you all that end-of-semester madness is upon me, so please don’t expect the next update anytime soon. Wish me luck, I’ll need it. And if you hear someone screaming in a distinctly primal manner, it was me.


	18. Nightswimming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own this.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

“You can’t believe… Toph, this was your idea, you can’t blame me, you can’t.”

“Watch me.” She took off her shoes and shirt, leaving her in what would have to do for a swim outfit: Shorts and a sarashi. Katara had turned her onto sarashis, back when she’d really hit puberty and her boobs had become a problem during fighting and bending. The flexibility with the wrappings (you could make them as tight as you wanted) and the fact that they went over the shoulders, not just around the chest, made a big difference, and she’d never looked back.

She had no idea if Sokka was looking at her, but she blushed anyways, wishing she had a proper swim outfit. Then she heard Sokka stripping down to his underwear too, and her blush deepened.

“What a beautiful spot,” Sokka said. “I wonder what it’s like during the day.” He stepped into the water, gingerly at first, then dove in. “Ahhhhhhhh.”

Toph put in a toe, then withdrew it. “What do you mean, what it’s like during the day? Isn’t it the same, just brighter?”

Sokka splashed some water in her direction. “There are flowering trees all around us. I wonder what it’s like when all the colors are out, during the day.”

Oh, this. “I’ve never really understood that. Why are there no colors at night?”

“I dunno. I guess because everything’s darker.”

“But you can see that there are trees, and they’re flowering. It’s not too dark for that?”

“No… but it’s dark enough that I can’t tell what colors they are. I can only see their shapes, their outlines.”

Toph was silent. “You become colorblind at night?”

This idea appealed to her. It wasn’t much, but it was something that made the ground between them just a tiny bit more level.

Sokka was quiet, too, then he said, “I guess you could say that.”

Toph boldly took a step forward, into the water, towards Sokka. It came up and lapped at her calf. She stopped and waited; no panic, no icy dread gripping her windpipe. All was well.

She took another step. Still all well.

“You might even say,” Sokka mused, “that the colors just go away at night. They go away when the light goes away.”

Toph took two more steps, closer to Sokka, up to her waist now. No panic, no fear.  _ Look at me!  _ She almost boasted.  _ Look! I got this! _

Instead, she repeated, “the colors just go away at night?”

“Yup.”

“Where… where do they go?”

Sokka was silent for a moment, then she heard him laughing quietly underneath his breath.

“What? Did I say something stupid and blind?”

“No! Absolutely not. You, you always say these things that make me wonder, ‘where did that come from?’ — I have no idea where the colors go at night, Toph, but that’s a beautiful way of thinking about things. On a beautiful night.”

“Is it a beautiful night?”

“Very. The stars are out… the moon is low tonight… we’re in this little arboretum… and it’s quiet. Night swimming deserves a quiet night, don’t you think?”

Toph was about to agree, but first she took one more step forward…

...and the next thing she knew, she was underwater. One moment she’d been up to her waist, and her footing was secure; the next, the water was over her head, she had no footing, and she was definitely going to die.

Sokka scooped her up, of course. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist in a death grip. “You must have hit an uneven patch of the floor,” he reflected quietly while she coughed and screamed and swore and shook in his arms. So much for his quiet night.

He continued holding her, showing no sign of wanting to set her down, so she allowed herself to be held until her panic subsided. Even then, still, she clung to him while her breathing evened out.

“Has anyone ever told you what color eyes you have?” he said, as nonchalant as if he hadn’t just rescued her from drowning and she was not clinging to him for dear life.

“Green,” she said. She pulled back a tiny bit. “Can you see the green right now? I thought you said the colors all go away at night?”

“It’s true, I can only see a tiny bit of green in them right now, but earlier today I thought that they looked like the green in a cup of jasmine tea. A cup of IROH’S jasmine tea,” he clarified.

“I have no idea what that means…” she said, resting her chin on his shoulder. “Sokka, can I go back to land now?”

“What? No, we haven’t even gotten started. This wasn’t a lesson.”

“Of course it was a lesson, it nearly killed me…”

He shifted her slightly in his arms, and she became aware of how much skin-on-skin was happening. “You know what your problem is?” he said. “You don’t know that swimming can also be fun.”

“Swimming? Fun? You’re really reaching, Sokka.”

“No, I’m serious. You panic because you’re not comfortable in the water.”

“I’ve gotten pretty good at floating on my back.”

“Yeah, I need to teach you to tread water while you’re vertical… then you won’t panic in a situation like this. But before we can even do that, we’ve gotta get you more comfortable with water in general. Has anyone ever taught you how to breath underwater?”

“How to… Sokka, if I weren’t depending on you for survival right now, I’d beat you up. Even I know humans can’t breathe underwater.”

He laughed again, but it wasn’t a mean laugh. She felt it in his chest.

Which was pressed against her sarashi. 

“You can’t breathe in, but you can breathe out. Then you come back up and take a breath in before you go under again.”

This still sounded suspect to Toph, and her face must have registered it.

“Will you try it with me? All you have to do is breathe out, just like on land. You’ll blow some bubbles and it’ll be funny, then we’ll come right back up.”

“Why do you want me dead, Sokka…” but she agreed, reluctantly.

The first time, she was so surprised when it worked that she opened her mouth, and Sokka had to drag her up again. But after only a little more practice, she got the hang of it. Then Sokka taught her how to kick her feet and pump her arms to stay afloat. It was easier than she’d thought, especially because she was no longer panicking.

“Now I’ll teach you the humming game,” Sokka said, after a short break.

“I’m afraid to ask...”

“It’s simple. We go under. One person hums a tune. The other person has to listen for what it is.”

“You can do that…?”

“It’s easy, come on, I’ll show you.” Sokka took a deep breath and went under; Toph followed suit. She heard a few bubbly, comical notes coming from him, broken by his laughter. She couldn’t tell what the song was.

Being under for more than a few seconds was difficult. Her breath was running out, and she wouldn’t be able to blow any more bubbles, soon. What would happen then? She felt herself panicking. Sokka was still laughing, trying and failing to start the song yet again. Her lungs gave out, and she started thrashing, frantic to get to the surface.

A few seconds later, she was back in Sokka’s arms, coughing into his neck again. “I’m sorry, Toph, I’m sorry” he was saying, over and over, and he sounded truly sorry. “I overreached with the humming game. I should have known better than to try it when you just learned to tread water.” He rubbed her back.

What was this? He was being so…  _ nice _ . Why wasn’t he teasing her? His hand came up and stroked through her hair. She wondered if she was dreaming.

“It’s OK,” she said shakily. “I just panicked because I forgot I can come back up if I need to. I’ll remember next time.”

“Next time?”

“Yeah. I want to try again.”

This was so weird. If Sokka had teased her, she would have screamed at him for trying to kill her, made him take her back to dry land, and held it over him for days. But since he was apologizing, here she was, asking to try again.

_ I’m really far gone, aren’t I, _ she thought.

_ Yes _ , she answered herself a few minutes later,  _ I am _ , because there she was, back underwater, listening hard (this time, Sokka kept his hands on her waist so she wouldn’t panic). She could even tell what he was humming.

“The Girl At the Waterfall,” she said when they’d resurfaced, determined to keep her voice from quivering. It was an old folk song about best friends falling in love. She was afraid to think too hard about it.

“Very good!” he said, and clapped, as if there was nothing more to say. “Do you want to try it?”

“No… no, I think this has been enough for one night.”

“Almost,” he said. He was holding her elbows loosely. “One more thing, and then we’re done.”

“One more thing…?” Toph said warily.

“Just one. I’m going to go… just a short ways away, and you’re going to swim to me.”

Toph punched him. “The hell I am.”

“You can do it, I promise. Instead of treading water in one spot, you kick towards my voice. It’s easy, you’ll see.”

She grabbed his arms. “DON’T let me go, Sokka, I’m warning you…”

“I’ll be… ten feet away. If that. You’ll see, you can do it, I… I DARE YOU.” He barked this at her.

Oh. So he was done being nice, was he? It was almost a relief. .

“Nuh-uh.” She gripped him harder.

“You’re backing down from a dare? You? I thought I knew you.”

“You, you, you—Sokka—FINE!” She kicked and punched him off of her. He laughed and swam away.

“OK, I’m here, follow my voice, Earthworm.”

She angled towards his voice and started kicking. “I HATE THIS.”

“Don’t waste your breath shouting at me, Dummy.”

“Sokka, I’m going to punch you in the teeth when I get to you…”

“You’re going the wrong way, Genius.”

“Right. In. The. Teeth.”

She huffed and panted and kicked and struggled and then, before she was expecting him, there he was, pulling her into him. She wrapped her legs around him once more, her hands on his shoulders. She could feel his collarbone under her thumb. 

“Here endeth the lesson,” he said. “Congratulations. You did great.”

“Thank you, thank you. What is my reward?”

“Your reward is… is… I know.” And before she knew what was happening, he’d shunted her off of him, grabbed her wrists tight, and was whirling her around in a circle.

She shrieked in fear, but it wasn’t the unpleasant kind of fear. Her body was cutting an arc through the water, and it should have hurt, but it didn’t. Her shrieks turned to laughter by the time Sokka drew her back into an embrace.

She couldn’t hide her delight. “That was amazing.”

“Thought you’d like that.”

“Can we go again?

“Next lesson.”

“Awww….”

“It’ll give you something to look forward to.”

He gathered up their clothes after they got out, grabbed her hand, and didn’t let go as they made their way back to the palace.

“You know,” he said nonchalantly as they walked, “I think I’ll be able to sleep.”

“Good,” she said. She squeezed his hand; he switched their fingers so they were threaded together.

The lesson was over, but her head was still swimming. They were in their underwear, soaked, and holding hands. To a casual observer, they couldn’t appear to be anything except a couple, and a happy one at that...

The whole night, it felt magical, and Sokka’s behavior was… she couldn’t write it off.

A part of her wanted to. A part of her was daunted, nervous, downright terrified of what it might mean.

But she couldn’t write it off. She couldn’t pretend it meant nothing. Because this time, there had been no cactus juice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ll notice there’s no plot to be found here… and it’s the only chapter with a title. I considered writing this little scene as a standalone one-shot a while back and never bothered, but it’s been bumping around in my head for a while. It’s inspired by the song Nightswimming by REM, which, if you haven’t heard it, check it out. I don’t even care if I’m dating myself, it’s a beautiful song.
> 
> Buckle in, this is the last pleasant moment these two will have for some time...


	19. 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! Wear a mask if you're celebrating with Other People! Here's to a better 2021! I don't own this!

Sokka fell into bed that night in a state of absolute, pure, complete happiness, staring up at the ceiling with what he knew was an intensely idiotic smile on his face, and daring to think, just for a second, that Toph might be doing the same next door.

And then, blissfully, he slept.

She was guarded at first, the next morning, but loosened up quickly. They giggled their way through breakfast, even though nothing was particularly funny, and then it was time to join the three Earth Kingdom representatives—Yao, Ling, and Chien Po—and journey via boat to Saipan.

None of the three diplomats paid any attention to Sokka. They talked to him through Toph, only including him in their brief conversations when she pointedly referenced him. He wondered whether it was because he wasn’t Earth Kingdom, Huang, a bender, or all three.

He didn’t care. He was too happy. Toph was pissed, though, and as the day went on, she took less and less trouble to hide it, answering the other three with one-syllable words and a sour face that she didn’t try to hide.

To their surprise, two Saipanese representatives, Jas and Holza, joined them later that morning. They’d taken a boat from Saipan to the mainland very early, to meet them and make the trip back to Saipan together. In appearance, there was almost nothing that distinguished them from mainland Earth Kingdom-ers; Sokka thought they were perhaps just a little shorter, with slightly darker skin. Their clothes were non-distinct, and they were both pleasant, charming, and socially gifted—not what Sokka was expecting. Neither of them neglected to include Sokka in conversation.

Toph had lightly gripped his arm, as they prepared to leave for the boat to Saipan, and whispered “make sure I’m facing the right way when we talk to them on the boat.”

“Will do,” he whispered back. Her fingers lingered on his arm, and on a heady whim, he captured them with his other hand and drew her arm all the way through his. Holza, who had clearly been wondering if they were a couple but was too polite to ask, looked at them and stopped wondering.

The trip, via a small boat with a small engine, would take several hours, and all five of the diplomats had big plans to use that time to their advantage, by discussing the situation on Saipan. By talking.  A lot.

They could form their own Yackety Yak Unit, Sokka thought.

At first, Jas and Holza had spoken compellingly, and Toph and Sokka both listened attentively. They were clearly passionate about advocating for Saipan (although careful about criticizing the central government), and impressively commanded the attention of Yao, Ling, and Chien Po as well.

The first sign of trouble came when Chien Po very gently pushed back on something Jas said about the potential environmental damage the new dam might do if fish could not spawn as usual.

“We’ve researched that,” Chien Po said, his voice very friendly. “We do agree there’s a chance of mild harm, although it’s greatly outweighed by the potential benefits the dam will bring.”

“Oh! Yes, I’m sure it will do a lot of good as well,” Jas answered quickly. “We have seen so many improvements in the last ten years, and we’re so grateful for them… I would love to see what research you’ve done on the potential downsides, though.”

“I’d be happy to talk more too,” Chien Po replied. “I’m sure we can come to an agreement about the best way to mitigate any harm.”

“I’m sure we can.”

Sokka’s eyes darted back and forth between them. Why wasn’t Jas pushing at all, on the issue of the dam?

He leaned forward. “I’d like to hear more about the potential downsides as well.”

Both Jas and Chien Po looked at him as if they’d forgotten he was there. “Jas,” he continued, “can you say more? Who will get affected, if the fish can’t spawn?”

“Um.” Jas glanced at Chien Po warily. “Well,” she said haltingly, “there are fishermen who rely on that river for their livelihood…”

“Plus the people who eat the fish they catch, I imagine,” Toph said.

Ling joined the conversation now. “We have already recruited over three hundred fishermen into our job training programs. Some of them have even obtained scholarships for vocational schools on the mainland. The days when the population relied on subsistence fishing are thankfully ending.”

“But—”

“You—”

Sokka and Toph were both cut off by Holza, who said brightly, “I’d love to visit your job training sites!”

“Have you never been to one?” Ling asked. “I would have thought they’d have given you a tour, by now, seeing as you’re a top governmental representative…”

“Yes, I’ve seen two of them on Saipan,” Holza corrected. “I meant I’d love to see one on the mainland. Some day,” he said. His voice was longing, his eyes hungry.

“Oh, I’m sure we can arrange that!” Yao said. “We should really take you both for a tour on the mainland. Have you ever stayed on the mainland for an extended time before?” Both Holza and Jas shook their heads vigorously. “We’ll put a trip together for you. You can meet with local leaders, see the factories, and do some sightseeing too… I’d love to be your tour guide! I’ll take you for the best food, too, and we can—”

“When do we get to see the Lon Nol?” Toph interrupted.

“I beg your pardon?” Yao said, clearly affronted.

Sokka elbowed Toph. She was, he sensed, starting to move into “butt whooper” mode, and it was a little sudden.

She elbowed him back. She didn’t care.

“I’m wondering when we’ll see the Lon Nol,” Toph repeated. “I’d like to actually get started on this project soon.”

“We are still working on that,” Jas said. “As soon as we can arrange a meeting with their representatives, we will. Our top local leaders have been working to extend an invitation to them.” She was back in “smooth” mode, and Sokka had a feeling he’d gotten the measure of Jas. “Communication with them is difficult, but when they hear you’ve been sent by the Avatar… well, we hope you’ll be able to see them within a week or two.”

“A week or two?” Toph frowned. “Maybe we should go looking for them ourselves.”

Chien Po and Ling gasped out loud, and Yao stuttered, “you–you can’t be serious.” Even Jas and Holza looked shocked.

“If it’ll get things going sooner, why not?” Sokka agreed.

“Why not?  _ Why not? _ ” Yao shook his head, laughing, his eyes wide.

“I know that might seem like the logical thing to do,” Holza said, standing, “but believe me when I say, that would not be wise.” He sat directly across from them and looked Sokka in the eye. “They would likely kill you before you had a chance to say a word.”

Sokka said nothing, just stared back at him. He was having a harder and harder time believing anything any of these people said.

Holza looked away first. To Sokka, this was confirmation: He and Jas weren’t the real thing. They probably had no influence with the Saipanese people at all, and didn’t really represent them. They were there to tell the Earth Kingdom what they wanted to hear, in exchange for mainland perks.

Holza went back to Jas and muttered something, then rejoined Ling in a conversation about water fowl. A decidedly less friendly mood settled over the group, but Toph seemed unbothered. “Can I have a bite of seal jerky?” she asked Sokka blithely.

Sokka was unbothered too, truth be told. His head felt light and spinny, in fact. He was increasingly dubious about whether they’d accomplish anything at all on this mission, but the girl next to him was warm, alive, liked seal jerky, and hadn’t unthreaded her arm from his all day. How could he be anything but happy?

*****

“Are we almost there?” Toph asked.

“I can see the island,” Sokka said, “but I think we still have a ways to go. We’re approaching the western shore, but the capital is on the eastern, so we have to go around.”

Jas, having overheard and still trying to smooth things over, leaned over and said “that’s right. We’ll approach via a channel that goes halfway around the island, along the southern side. The current will help us… local Saipanese have used it to travel for centuries.”

“Uh-huh,” Sokka said.

“What do you think of the Three Point Treaty the Earth King is asking for?” Toph asked pointedly.

Jas seemed shocked again. Both Sokka and Toph were getting used to this, though. “I— well, I want to hear what the Saipanese people think,” she said.

“I think you know what the Saipanese people think,” Toph answered. “But I don’t think you’ll tell us.”

Jas said nothing, just smiled, pleasantly and vapidly.

“What do you think of the PCC?” Sokka asked.

Jas opened her mouth...

...and closed it. A look of acute hatred settled over her features and her pupils narrowed. Sokka sat up a little straighter and leaned towards her. “Tell us. Please.”

Her jaw worked. “The Production and Construction Corps are… are…” She took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on the water. When she spoke next, her voice was lower and much more intense. “The PCC guards are…”

“Yes???” Sokka prompted.

“Oh my goodness, Holza, is that an emu water buffalo?” Jas jumped up, her voice back to bright and bubbly.

“Yes, yes it is!” Holza confirmed. “We’re getting close to shore. Emu water buffalo are very important in Saipan,” he told the group. “Historically, they were both worshipped and eaten...”

Toph let her head fall back against the rim of the boat. She seemed to be resisting the urge to pound it there over and over. “Are we close enough that we could jump out and swim?” she muttered.

Sokka laughed, even as he made a mental note to tell Toph what had just happened as soon as possible. She hadn’t seen that look in Jas’ eye… that look that evidenced a deep internal battle between fear and loathing.

“So eager for your next swimming lesson?” he asked, for the moment.

“Yeah, I am, actually,” she said. Her cheeks glowed.

Sokka took a few seconds to answer, then said, his voice low, “I can’t wait either.”

She smiled. Big.

******

An hour or so later, they were so close to the shore they actually could have jumped out and swam.

“Really? Even me?” Toph asked.

“Yes, even you, if you really tried,” Sokka answered. “And… hey, there’s another boat.”

“What kind of boat? How far?”

“Smaller than ours… not far. It’s following us, it must be using the current too.” He craned his neck to get a better look. He couldn’t tell what kind of engine it had…

“You want to go look at it, don’t you,” Toph said. For the first time all day, she loosened her grip on his arm. “Go on,” she said, smiling.

“You sure? It’s not that big a deal…”

“That’s right, it’s not, so go on,” she said, and gave him a little push.

Sokka stood and walked to lean over the stern of their boat as far as he could. Holza joined him there. “That’s a traditional Saipanese canoe,” he said, “with a modern engine attached.”

“Is that common these days?” Sokka asked.

“Very… our boats are built sturdy and sleek, and they handle the engines well.”

“Any idea what this boat is doing out here?” Sokka asked, interested in something Holza might have to say for the first time all day. “It’s not fishing, at least not at the moment…” 

“Probably just a traveler commuting to the capital who didn’t want to travel overland,” Holza answered. “The Lon Nol camp is not far from here, and more and more are choosing to travel via water, even though it takes longer…”

The smaller boat was gaining on them slightly, and Holza motioned Jas over to look at it too. Ling, Yao, and Chien Po followed, curious.

“We’re bigger and clunkier,” Holza told them. “Should we slow down and let them pass us?”

“Probably…” Yao called the order to the captain, who slowed fractionally. 

Holza looked at Sokka, who was still leaning over the boat railing, fascinated, then at Toph. “Excuse me, Miss Toph, would you like to come see?” he called. Sokka winced.

“What?” she yelled back from the opposite end of the boat.

He raised his voice. “It’s a traditional Saipanese canoe. We’re slowing down to let them pass. Do you want to come look?”

Sokka winced again, but Toph called back nonchalantly, “Nah, you’ve seen nothing once, you’ve seen it a million times.”

“Oh—oh, oh dear,” Holza said, then started, “I’m so, so sorry, I forgot—” he shouted.

“Don’t worry!” she hollered.

“Seriously, don’t worry,” Sokka said. Holza seemed genuinely distraught at his mistake, and whatever his other failings... “It happens all the time, she’s used to it.”

Holza chuckled, still shaking his head at his own mistake. “My wife is deaf in one ear, and she constantly has to remind people. Including me, sometimes.” He smiled at Sokka. “Are you engaged yet?”

“Oh.” Sokka felt his cheeks warm. He focused his gaze on the canoe, now very close to them and slowing down itself, probably so it could pass them smoothly. He could see it held two passengers. One operated the motor; the other, a man with sideburns so large Sokka could see them across the water, sat at the bow. “Um, no.”

“What on earth are you waiting for?”

For this, Sokka had no answer. He flailed, suddenly very aware that he might currently be forfeiting the conversational upper hand they’d gained so far.

Then a spark on the approaching canoe caught his eye. No, not a spark, a flame. A small flame, in the hand of the man with the sideburns, there and gone. He started. That was a firebender. He’d know that motion anywhere. What was a firebender doing out here…?

Why was he bending fire out here…? In the middle of passing them…? What could possibly be the point...?

Then the firebender, whoever he was, stood up in the canoe and threw a small object straight at them.

Too shocked to move, Sokka and all five diplomats could only watch its progress from the boat’s stern. Sokka caught a glimpse of it as it skittered across the deck. It had a wire poking out of it, which was sparking, and it was about the size of his fist. It came to a stop right in front of Toph, halted by one of their trunks.

Toph had heard and felt it as it bounced toward her, and she fumbled around, wondering what it was, reaching in its general direction, her brow furrowed.

A gear turned in Sokka’s head.  _ About the size of a peach… _

“Toph!!! TOPH, NO!!!!” he screamed, and started to run to her.

Time slowed down, and he saw her—she took a step back—the thing fizzed some more—instinctively, Toph raised her arms to cover her face— _ about the size of a peach _ —

And then it exploded, in a fiery, ear-splitting blast that knocked Sokka to the deck. He knelt, coughing.

It all happened so quickly. One moment Toph was standing at the boat’s side, wondering what the thing was—the next moment, there was no side to the boat, Toph was in the water, and the water was already turning red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry.
> 
> Yao, Ling and Chien Po are names I stole from the 1998 Mulan (sorry again). Jas and Holza are from the Star Trek TNG episode “Ensign Ro”.


	20. 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all were ready to attack me, after the last chapter, so I thought I'd better get this posted.  
> CW: There’s some blood. Nothing too graphic.

Sokka dove in, caught up her body, and started kicking frantically towards shore. Water had never felt less friendly than it did now; it might have been molasses, for how hard it fought him. Finally, in a mess of panic, he hauled Toph onto dry land.

With fumbling hands, he tried to survey the damage. Images of that frothy red ocean water popped in and out of his head; the whites of his armbands had turned pink, and he screamed from sheer, absolute terror.

Even in his panic-stricken mind, he somehow deduced that her stomach and the backs of her arms (which she’d lifted to protect her face) had borne the worst of the explosion. The real problem was her stomach. There was a wooden shard from the boat stuck straight through her lower left abdomen… and there was so… much… blood…

Sokka knew, even as he cast around for something, anything, that it was hopeless. Even though it was already wet, he tore off his shirt and pressed it to the stomach wound, trying to stop the blood; it turned red instantly. Should he try to take the wooden shard out? Or would that just make it worse? A thought flicked into the back of his mind, almost as if it had been written there: “There’s nothing you can do. Toph will die now.” He screamed, a guttural, deep cry.

“Out of my way!” Someone pushed him and crouched low over Toph.

Sokka shoved back, tried to push the other person away, but a second person grabbed him from behind, twisted his arm behind his back, and held him, unable to move. “Quiet, now!” came a rough voice in his ear. “Let her work.” Sokka continued to struggle, but the man holding him back was strong.

The woman crouched in front of Toph was lifting away Sokka’s bloody shirt, grimacing when she saw the damage, and then, in a movement so familiar it stunned Sokka into stillness, yanked water out of a water skin and pressed it to Toph’s stomach. The water glowed.

Sokka fell to his knees. “You’re a… healer?” She ignored him and continued working on Toph.

After a few seconds, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled it, and started chanting something Sokka couldn’t understand. Sokka twisted his neck to try to look at whoever was holding him; he could barely see, but whoever it was repeated, “let her work.”

She’d gone into something of a trance now. Katara sometimes did something similar, but this woman was really deep into it. She was still chanting, almost singing. The glowing water… it seemed to respond to her chanting, somehow, changing shape or texture as she continued to sing. There also seemed to be bits of various plants in the water--leaves and roots and lichen that also moved with the water. Her fingers were long and thin and seemed designed for healing.

Katara’s healing sessions didn’t look like that.

She continued on for several minutes, sometimes focusing water and attention on Toph’s arms as well, sometimes pausing for just a moment to feel Toph’s pulse, always returning to the major wound in her stomach before too long. After some time, she changed the chant very slightly, and propped Toph onto her side, handling her body extraordinarily well. She took a deep breath and whispered something that sounded more like a prayer than a chant. Then she started singing and chanting again, and continued singing and chanting while she and her healing water gently worked to remove the wooden piece from Toph’s body.

Sokka held his breath and tried not to cry from anticipation and fear. When the piece came loose, there was a rush of blood; but the woman and her water quickly stanched it. Stanched it, a wound like that… Katara would have been bowled over. Sokka had to squint, but he thought he could see Toph’s flesh actually knitting back together. His brain still stuttering, all he could think was that he hoped whatever internal organs might have been damaged were knitting back together in the same way.

She kept going, holding the plant-filled water over Toph’s stomach and chanting, for what seemed like days. She tended to Toph’s arms as well. Finally, she sat back and bent her water back into a waterskin.

“That’s all I can do for now,” she said. “I’ll need several more sessions with her today and tomorrow. That’s at the very least.”

Sokka sprang towards Toph, and this time, nobody tried to stop him. He put a hand on her cheek, then felt her neck. Her pulse was there. It wasn’t exactly vigorous, but it was there. He would have cried, but he was still too stunned. He moved her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “You’re going to be alright,” he said, even though she was unconscious. “You’re not going to die on me, Toph.” He looked at the healer woman; she looked exhausted. “Thank you,” Sokka said to her, his voice cracking. She nodded wearily. “How long do you think before she’ll wake up?”

“At least a few hours. The longer she can sleep, the better. The sleep will let her body heal.”

Sokka was still trying to wrap his head around everything. Who were these rescuers, and where had they come from? Who were the people in the canoe who’d attacked them?

He sat back and, for the first time, really looked at the people who’d rescued them. They were both Saipanese. He didn’t know exactly how, but he somehow knew at a glance that they were island people. Both had lighter skin than him, darker skin than Toph, and wore clothing like none he’d ever seen before, but was definitely not Earth Kingdom clothing. The man wore something that looked to Sokka like a long skirt, knotted in the middle, and the woman wore a simple shirt and pants but had some kind of cloth wrapped around her head. She was tiny, even smaller than Toph, and had a very thin face, with prominent cheekbones, as if she’d lost a lot of weight very suddenly.

...A Saipanese water bender? And healer extraordinaire?

“Who are you?” Sokka asked.

They glanced at each other. “My name is Choden,” the woman said, “and this is Yongten.”

“And you are…?” Yongten asked. Sokka could see, now, that he was rather short; he was probably only a little taller than Toph, and yet he’d restrained Sokka with no trouble… clearly a trained fighter.

“I’m Sokka, and this is Toph. Thank you again for saving her life,” Sokka said. “And again.” He grasped Choden’s hand.

“Where do you come from, Sokka? And her…?” he gestured to Toph.

“We were sent by the Avatar. We know there is political trouble here in Saipan, and we’re here as representatives of Avatar Aang to try to help work things out. I’m originally from the Southern Water Tribe, and Toph is originally from…”

“The Earth Kingdom, obviously,” Yongten interrupted.

“...Gaoling, and then Yu Dao, or, right outside Yu Dao,” Sokka finished, as if that would make a difference.

“Why would the Avatar send someone who’s Huang as a negotiator?” Yonten asked bitterly. 

Sokka couldn’t tell if he was actually looking for an answer to that question, but he decided to go ahead and answer it. “The idea was that Toph would try to corral the other Huang negotiators, who the King was sending… but then we got attacked… who attacked us?”

Choden and Yongten glanced at each other for the briefest moment before Yongten said, “we don’t know. Come on, we need to make a stretcher, it’s going to take several hours to get her to camp.”

“Hold on.” Sokka jumped up. “You do know who attacked us. Tell me. Was it the Lon Nol?”

There was a long pause. Choden and Yongten didn't look at each other.

“It could have been,” Choden said finally, “or it could have been the Earth Kingdom PCC forces.”

“Why would the Earth Kingdom attack us? They sent us!”

“Maybe they forgot to tell the PCC. Like I said, we don’t know,” Yongten said shortly. “But we have to get going. If we take too much more time, we won’t have enough daylight left to get back to camp tonight.” He pulled a small mattock from his pack, walked to the edge of the jungle, and started chopping at a tree branch.

“I’m not going anywhere unless you give me some more answers, and neither is she,” Sokka said, gesturing to Toph’s unconscious form.

“OK, then, she’ll die,” Choden said shortly. “It takes two full days for a healthy person to walk from here to the nearest town, and that’s if you know the way. You’ll never make it. We have to get her to camp, come on.”

“My friends…” Sokka scanned the ocean for the boat they’d come on. Surely they’d be sending help soon.

Right?

“Your friends limped away as quickly as possible,” Choden said. “They fled. From the grenade. Come on, help me gather vines for the stretcher.”

Sokka still hesitated. “What is this ‘camp’ you keep talking about?”

“I’ll tell you more on the way,” Choden relented. Still, Sokka didn’t move. He felt completely frozen in place.

Yongten felled the branch he was working on and started on a second.

“Look at her,” Choden said emphatically. “Look at her wound. It’s still open. She’s lost an enormous amount of blood, and she’s still bleeding internally. I need more time with her. If you take her away from me now, it will kill her.”

This, finally, made up Sokka’s mind. With no real alternatives, he helped gather vines and stretch them across Yongten’s branches to make a crude stretcher. Slowly and carefully, they lifted Toph onto it, and then set off, into the jungle, heading towards… only the Gods knew what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to do 2 Sokka POV chapters back to back because of Toph's being unconscious... I don't think there will be any more like that.


	21. 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a week... nothing like an attempted insurrection to get the creative juices flowing... I spent some time thinking about whether I could work an allusion to the storming of the capitol into this story... yeah, no, but goddamn, what a week...

Pain in her body, fog in her mind, and her mouth was dry… that was all Toph knew.

“She’s waking up!”

“Stop, Yongten, put her down…”

She faded out again.

*****

Someone was standing over her, chanting something, and holding cool, humming water against her skin.

“...‘Tara…?” she croaked.

“She thinks you’re my sister,” came a voice she knew and loved. “She’s a water healer too.”

“Sokka…”

“I’m here, Toph.” There was pressure; someone was squeezing her hand. “Just stay still. Try to go back to sleep.”

“Sokka...”

Lips on her brow, before she was gone once more.

*****

The next time, she woke up for real.

“I’m here, Toph, I’m right here.” A hand rubbed her forearm. “You’ve been through a lot. Take it slow.” Then, to someone else: “She’s actually waking up, I think.”

“Water?” she croaked.

Sokka helped her sit up part way, leaning against him for support. “Just a small sip. Take it slow. We don’t want you to gag or throw up.” He handed her a water skin; she did as instructed, and then he helped her lie back down.

Someone had walked over and watched these proceedings; she stepped forward now. “Hello, Toph, my name is Choden.”

“Choden saved your life,” said Sokka quickly. “And that’s not a joke or an exaggeration. She’s a healer, only, like, a SUPER healer… she can do stuff that I’ve never even heard Katara talk about. She’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

“My healing is nothing special, here on Saipan,” Choden said, “But your friend is right. You were on the path to death. I’m grateful I got to you early enough.”

This was a lot, and Toph couldn’t follow all of it, but she gathered that she owed Choden her life. “Thanks,” she grunted, and tried to stretch out her arm to shake hands—

—only to give a yelp of pain and bring her arm back down slowly.

“Yes, you still have some open wounds, and a lot of bruising, along the backs of your arms… and even more on your stomach. I’ll keep working on those as soon as we get to camp. I want to find some betel leaves…”

“Camp?” Toph rasped. She was mastering the art of one-word conversing. 

Someone else appeared. “Yes, we have to get back to our camp.”

“This is Yongten,” Sokka said.

“Hi,” said Toph. She was feeling tired and drowsy again.

“We can’t stop much longer,” Yongten said curtly. He didn’t return her “hi”, she noticed, even in her sleepy state.

“I need fresh water,” said Choden. She stood, withdrawing the healing water, and Toph gasped in pain. “I’m sorry, Toph, I’ll be back soon.” She and Yongten walked away.

Sokka brushed the hair out of her face. “Go back to sleep if you can.”

She wanted to, but there were too many questions. “What happened? Where are we? Where are we going?”

“I wish I could tell you... Someone attacked us on the boat, and you were injured. I’ll fill in more... _details_ about that when you’re a bit better.”

“Who attacked?”

“I don’t know. Our friends say it might have been Lon Nol, or it might have been the Earth Kingdom.”

“Earth…?”

“The PCC. I don’t know, Toph, I just don’t have any answers right now. But Choden and Yongten came running out of the jungle, and Choden saved your life, and now we’re carrying you back to their camp.”

“Who are they? What camp?”

“I think it must be some sort of refugee camp. I think Yongten and Choden must have had their land annexed by the Earth Kingdom… or maybe they just fled from the fighting and the Lon Nol. At any rate, they’ve retreated into the jungle with some other people, and that’s where they’re taking us.”

“Why were they away from… camp? They just…” she gave a grimace, “...happened to be where we were...?”

“I know, I’m working on it. Neither of them will tell me much… and you haven’t even been awake to tell me if they’re lying…”

“Sorry…”

“Yeah, you’re just dead weight, Earthworm. I should have left you to the sharks…” But his voice cracked on “left”. 

She squeezed his hand. “...would’ve choked on me…”

Sokka gave a short little laugh and she heard him wipe his eyes. “Oh, they’re coming back.”

Soon Toph felt the cooling, pain-easing water once more and heard Choden chanting. She was starting to nod off again, but it suddenly became very important to compliment Choden.

“You’re really good at this,” she murmured. 

It interrupted Choden’s chant. Whoops. “What did you say?” Choden asked.

“Sorry… interrupted… never mind…”

“It’s really OK, Toph,” Choden said. “I’m still healing you. The chant isn’t magical, and it’s not something that’s supposed to disconnect me from what’s going on around me. What did you say?”

“Just wanted to say…” Toph mumbled, “You’re really good at this. Healing.”

She heard a faint “thank you” and a chuckle before she fell asleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case I haven't made this clear, I love seeing your comments. Please keep them coming.  
> I'm going to get the next chapter up in the next few days, so DON'T LOOK AWAY.


	22. 22

A thousand kinds of blood-sucking insects buzzed around Sokka’s head, but the questions buzzing inside his head bothered him more.

Yongten had said almost nothing; Choden, scarcely more. She’d explained that they were indeed refugees; that their small farm had been burned and they’d fled into the jungle; that they had two children; that she was both a teacher and a healer in their camp; and that Yongten hunted and guarded the camp.

She did not specify whether they’d fled from Earth Kingdom PCC forces, or from the Lon Nol. Maybe both.

Sokka took one hand off the stretcher very briefly to slap at some sort of blood-sucker. It was hot, and muggy, and getting hotter and muggier the further away they got from the water. He was covered in sweat and blood, and attracted any and all the jungle bugs.

The attack on their boat must have been the PCC. If he remembered rightly, Aang had said that the Earth Kingdom Army was testing and using grenades. Apparently, they’d passed that technology on to the PCC… He still had no explanation for why Choden and Yongten happened to be on hand exactly where and when Toph desperately needed a healer; even Choden had refused to answer that question. He could only guess that their refugee camp had access to some sort of underground information network and had gotten wind of the planned attack, so they’d rushed off to see if they could stop it, or failing that, heal anyone wounded…

They stopped frequently so that Choden could tend to Toph in short bursts. Sokka oscillated between worry and terror for Toph, and his own litany of questions. Why was there a firebender hanging around this tiny island? Why attack them? Why was there a  _ waterbender _ here—a healer at that, and one with a healing ability beyond anything he’d ever witnessed—and who was clearly not a new arrival on Saipan? Choden wasn’t a Water Tribe name. He wanted to ask her whether one of her parents had been a member of one of the Water Tribes… maybe the Swamp Tribe, that was closer than either of the poles… but he had a feeling Choden would clam up if he even broached that subject with her.

“We’re almost there,” Yongten finally spoke. “Another ten or fifteen minutes.”

Sokka hadn’t seen any wild jungle animals, besides the bloodthirsty, vampiric mosquitos and other bugs that found him so yummy. He wondered if they’d see more after the sun set. Maybe a hog deer or a vulture thrush or even an anteater ant… though it was rare, the half-ant-half-anteater creatures did occasionally try to eat themselves, and Sokka had always dreamt of witnessing such an event.

He gave his head a little shake and told himself to stay focused. There wouldn’t be much daylight left when they got to this camp, so he’d have to familiarize himself with it as quickly as possible. He wondered if Choden and Yongten, as refugees in their own land, had any formal contact with the Saipanese government… maybe they were just waiting in the jungle until they were notified it was safe to relocate back to the more populous towns. Maybe they could send for additional medical supplies, or an airship out, since Toph was injured… he would mention Aang’s name as much as possible and see what that could get them. Too bad the paper Aang had written up was in his pack, which he’d left on the boat that morning…

That morning. Or maybe it was last year.

This would not be his first time among refugees, and he started planning ways to make himself useful. They might need help cooking, cleaning, chopping firewood, teaching, caring for the smallest children… they might need someone who could read a map… he would find a way to be useful. And surely they’d have a messenger hawk he could use… and once they could get ahold of Aang, all would be well… Appa would fly them out of danger, to a place where Toph could recover in safety, and Aang could take charge of this whole operation. Just do his Avatar thing and make them stop fighting each other and call it a day.

Maybe he and Toph could make it out without meeting either the PCC or the Lon Nol at all. Maybe they could just stick to working with refugees. That would be so satisfying, so rewarding.

“You’re back.” A voice jolted him out of his thoughts; a new man was walking towards them, dressed similar to Yongten. “What’ve you got there… is she Huang??”

“She’s injured and unconscious,” said Choden.

“Choden.” The new man looked back and forth between her and Yongten. “You didn’t.”

“I did, and I’m not sorry,” Choden said.

“She would have died,” Yongten said shortly. “We had no choice, Jamphel.”

“You did, though,” he muttered.

Sokka didn’t like that at all.

“Want some help?” Jamphel asked, offering with a gesture to take over Sokka’s end of the stretcher.

“No thanks,” Sokka said. He sized Jamphel for a long moment, then gave a start when he saw a familiar band around his arm… an orange sunburst…

Just like the ones worn by Dohna and Wen Yan that night…

That night with the cactus juice… it was a million years ago, that night…

_ The night with the almost kiss... _

“And who’s this?” Jamphel asked.

Sokka jumped. “Name’s Sokka.”

“He was with her,” Yongten answered.

Toph was starting to wake up again. “We’re almost there, Toph,” Sokka told her. “Just hold on a few more minutes.” She nodded.

Another five minutes of plodding along a soft jungle path, and they were there, entering a large clearing surrounded by a whole village of tents. The camp was busy and crowded; Sokka hadn’t been wrong when he’d thought he could be useful. He could see one section where a few children were playing raucously, one where food was being prepared, a group of men cleaning and sharpening various weapons… there were a LOT of weapons, more than he expected for a refugee camp, even for one trying to defend against such violent forces…

Toph was waking up more. “Can you tell me what’s going on? What do you see? What are the people like?” She asked Sokka. He described things in brief as they set her down in a relatively quiet spot. 

“We’ll be back,” Choden said. “We have to talk to our leader about what happens next with you.” Sokka nodded, and she, Yongten, and Jamphel walked off.

He started describing the weaponry to Toph. “There’s a lot of it, and it looks really interesting… a mix of traditional and modern. I see spears, swords, machetes, knives, clubs… a lot of things I don’t even know the name of, I’ll have to ask someone…”

“Sokka, move past the weapons and tell me about the people. What are they like? What are they doing? I can hear a lot… I feel a lot of coming and going…”

“Yes, it’s busy. Some are cooking, some are looking after children, some are cleaning and sharpening the weapons… they… hang on.” Another person, this time a woman, had walked by, and Sokka spotted the same orange sunburst armband on her arm.

A small question started to grow in the back of his mind. He pushed it away.

It grew back again immediately.

“Hang on,” he told Toph again. “I’m not going far. I just want to see… something…”

He walked a short ways closer to the activity. Made it a point to look at peoples’ arms. Started counting armbands.

Then realized it was easier to tally the number of people NOT wearing armbands.

His heart started beating faster. He hurried back towards Toph.

He stopped just once more, before he got back to her, and took another look at the weaponry. There were a lot of weapons.

Most of which looked like they had been used recently.

His heart now thumping loudly, he walked slowly back to Toph.

“Well? Did you find what you wanted?”

He said nothing.

“Sokka? What’s going on…?”

“Toph.” His heart was absolutely pounding in his ears. He took several short breaths.

“Sokka, what—WHAT?”

“Toph,” he said again. “Remember when you said maybe we should go looking for the Lon Nol ourselves?”

“Yeah…”

“Well.” He swallowed hard. “I think we’ve found them.”

END OF PART ONE


End file.
